


The Ugly Duckling

by Zafona



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abuse, Accident, Adam Lambert - Freeform, Alternate Universe - High School, Anal Sex, Big Brother Michael, Bullying, Complete, Destiel - Freeform, Embarrassment, Explicit Sexual Content, Family, Happy Ending, High School, Homophobia, Horny Teenagers, How Do I Tag This, Injury, Jet - Freeform, Lottery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mildly Dubious Consent, Paralysis, Plot, Recovery, Redemption, Romance, Sabriel - Freeform, Sex, Sexual Content, Singing, Song Lyrics, Teenagers, Trauma, Wedding, also tears, beautiful transformation, dorky Cas, jerk!Dean, nerd!Castiel, sexy Cas, standing ovation, supportive friends, talent show, this story might induce anger, travelling, video games - Freeform, wheelchair, who's pretty now bitch?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-26 05:50:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 76,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/962354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zafona/pseuds/Zafona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A struggle to be noticed by a gorgeous classmate turns into a fight against bullying and bigotry, and a fight for self-worth and self-respect. Castiel has the inner makings of a charming extroverted diva but lacks the self confidence to be it. Every year in high school he thinks it'll be the time he shows them all what he really is, but the level of homophobia in his small town isn't a nurturing environment as he learns first hand. Cas takes a chance with Dean, a boy he's had a crush on for too long, and it blows up in his face. He gets beaten, tricked, and humiliated to the point that when an opportunity rises to escape he takes it. </p><p>A few years later Castiel comes back, transformed, changed, and ready for his last year of high school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Another story written over a year ago. There are some questionable moments of believability scattered every now and then in the story, I'll do my best to catch them as I repost this from fanfiction.net but I may miss a few. Regardless this story got a mostly warm reception and I hope it'll have the same effect over here as well. Feel free to ask me questions, leave comments and kudos if you think it's deserving :D

"Now! She puts the shot glass down. She asks for a-nother round. She wants to hit the clouds. Honey, are you up there now? Now, she puts the shot glass down-" Castiel swung his hips to the beat of his new favourite album, Trespassing by Adam Lambert, the one blasting full volume over his speakers was called 'Kickin' in' and damn did it make him want to dance! Fourteen years old, freshly into puberty and alone at home, life wasn't so bad, at least not this weekend.

"K-k-kickin' in! K-k-kickin' in! K-k-kickin' in! Honey are you up there?" He cried out, his arms up in the air as he danced around the kitchen, shaking his booty like he'd seen in all the movies, who said only girls could dance that way? He didn't see an issue with it. He smiled to himself as he finished the last of the chores his parents had given him, finally checking the dishes off the list left on the fridge. He nodded firmly and started walking toward the stereo to turn down the CD when the shuffled songs skipped to 'Underneath' and he couldn't help but sing along with the painful and anguished lyrics. He was a teenager, drama was a huge deal.

"A red river of screams, underneath! Tears in my eyes, underneath! Stars in my black and blue sky!" He could almost see the crowds now, screaming for him – a stadium full of fans with lighters waving in the darkened stadium. Castiel clenched his fists and fell to his knees as he sang with it, everything was about the performance. "And underneath, under my skin. Underneath, the depths of my sins. Look at me! Now do you see?"

"Having fun?" His older brother's voice shook him out of his concert, Michael stood in only a pair of plaid pyjama pants with the biggest shit-eating grin Castiel had ever seen.

"I thought you were out." Cas muttered as he stood up, ignoring the dark blush staining his cheeks.

"Nah, decided to sleep in today." Michael glanced over at the fridge and its list, his smile widening. "You did all the chores already, nice job poindexter."

"Don't call me that." Castiel snapped, his voice cracking horribly as he did so. He cleared his throat and turned the stereo down, "I get that enough at school..." He glared down at himself, his scrawny and awkward limbs barely strong enough to hold him up. He could see his ribs if he lifted his shirt and his complexion was as pale as it could possibly get. He his big cheeks, big ears and flat lips, he had to wear pretty thick glasses that made his eyes look like giant marbles and only aided in the 'nerdy' look he had going.

"Don't be so down on yourself." Michael smirked and headed for the kitchen to eat whatever food was good enough for a grab-and-go.

"Easy for you to say!" Cas turned around and crossed his arms over his chest bitterly. "You're gorgeous! You've got muscle in all the right places, flawless skin, you tan easily, and your hair looks good no matter what you do with it!" He waved his hand gesturing to all of Michael, "Not only do you look good but you're crazy athletic, captain of all the manly sports teams our school has to offer and the most popular guy in the whole town."

"Please," Michael laughed, "Keep going, I'm enjoying this." He chugged some orange juice straight from the container until he need to stop for air, "Seriously, Cas. You can't compare yourself to me."

Castiel pouted and looked away, "Yeah well it's kinda hard not to when everyone else is..."

Michael sat down at the table with a bowl of cereal and shook his head, "I wasn't always like this you know."

"Well you weren't ever like  _this_  either." Cas motioned toward himself, waving his arms to emphasize the noodley-nature they had. "I'm going to be an ugly, nerdy dork forever."

"Maybe." Michael shrugged and dug into his breakfast, not caring that it was past noon. "Regardless," he muttered through a mouthful of Lucky Charms, "I'm graduating this year so you won't have to worry as much about it." He glanced at the way Castiel was tapping his foot with the beat of another song that came on, "You've got a pretty good thing going for you there, try to stick with it."

Cas sighed and adjusted his glasses, "Why'd dad have to have such horrible genes like these?" He muttered.

"How do you know it's dad's?" Michael raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I looked at the family trees, duh." Castiel snorted at him, "Mom's side is full of beautiful people all the way down to our great, great, great grandparents and the only thing wrong with  _them_  was that our great, great, great grandfather had an incredibly long nose." He laughed a little as he lifted his hand a good four inches away from his face, "Like this."

Michael scoffed, "Dork."

"What!" Cas frowned.

"You looked that far in our family tree? Seriously?"

Cas opened his mouth to say something but waved his hand at Michael instead, "Ah whatever, you wouldn't get it." He hit the 'eject disc' button on their stereo and took his CD up to his room singing quietly to himself again, "Honey are you up there now? She puts the shot glass down..."

Michael shook his head and tipped his bowl back to drink the remaining milk.

Castiel put the CD into his personal player and dropped onto his stomach, a fashion magazine opened in front of him. He stared down at the pages carefully, trying to figure out what was coming into style so he could get ahead of the train and wear what the cool kids would be donning. He paused, looking at a pair of faded skinny jeans for a few seconds before shaking his head and turning the page. "Who am I kidding? I'd never look good in those." He muttered. With Michael home it looked like his Sunday was ruined and brought down to this, research for the rest of his high school years.

* * *

"Goddamn it, SAM!" Dean fumed as he went to plug his play station 3 back in.

"Dean, watch your language!" Mary scolded from the other room.

"But mom!" Dean hollered angrily, "I was in the middle of a game and he unplugged the system! I haven't saved in a while, I lost all my data!"

"Well then maybe you should pay attention to him, or let him play once in a while." Mary walked in and crossed her arms in that 'mom' way.

Sam stared sheepishly at the floor, his mussy brown hair curling around his cheeks in a way that made him look like a cherub, but Dean knew the truth. "Little monster." He grumbled at the ten-year-old.

"Why don't you play one of those two player games?" Mary went and picked up a game she'd bought them a year ago, one of those cartoony just-for-kids games, and placed it into the ps3. "There, now you can both play." With that she walked back to the other room, a big smile on her face.

Dean frowned at Sam, "Why'd you do that?" He snarled.

"You've been playing all day." Sam pouted.

"So?" Dean rolled his shoulders bitterly and glared at the opening scene to the kiddie game with ferocity.

Sam stood quietly as Dean nearly snorted fire at the stupid game playing a jolly tune obnoxiously loud over the speakers. He twiddled his thumbs awkwardly and sat down on the couch next to his big brother, letting Dean finish setting up the controls and two-player mode.

"You gonna pick up your controller, or what?" Dean snapped.

Sam flinched but shook his head. He shifted hesitantly but leaned over and wrapped his arms around Dean. "Sorry." He whispered.

Dean tensed for a second but stopped when he looked down at the curly brown hair pinned to his side. "Hey, it's alright." He put his arm around Sam's shoulders and gave him a good squeeze, "So go get your controller."

Sam shook his head again and looked up with a big smile, "Nah, this game sucks."

Dean grinned, "Hell yeah it does. What'd you have in mind?"

"Grand theft auto?" Sam offered.

Dean glanced toward the kitchen then nodded, "Definitely, let's take turns each time someone dies, deal?"

"Deal!" Sam gave a quick nod yes and went to get the game as Dean moved to remove the crap his mom had put on for them.

John walked into the living room just in time to hear Dean shouting, "No, no, no! Go back and get the hooker!" he furrowed his brown and looked at the TV screen for a second. He glanced back toward the kitchen where Mary was busy getting lunch ready; when he was sure she wouldn't come into the living room any time soon he hurried to his chair to watch his boys play.

"Nice," John grinned, "You know that price is pretty ridiculous-" He looked at his sons' expressions and shut up, "Uh... never mind. Keep playing."

Dean laughed, "Do I wanna know how you know that?"

"Not in the least." John smirked, "So Jet coming over again today?"

Dean shrugged, "Probably, he tends to come by whenever mom makes food."

John nodded, "Right... He's been doing that for years, why do I bother asking anymore?"

"Don't know, Alzheimer's is my guess." Dean chuckled.

"Watch it." John warned with a laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

Monday morning. Castiel took a long, deep breath as he put his headphones into his ears. His mom had nearly forced breakfast into him and threw a ready-made lunch into his backpack. He used to argue that 'all the cool kids bought their lunches' except that usually meant he wouldn't get one. All that cliché 'gimme yer lunch monies' and everything. Cas shrugged it off, whatever, he was cool with it.

He shoved his walkman into his jacket pocket, feeling a little embarrassed that he didn't have an iPod or at least a cheap mp3 player like a lot of other people did. Regardless though at least he got to listen to his new CD on his way to school. Michael had a spare first thing in the mornings this semester so Cas had been walking to school on his own for the first time and it felt pretty damn good. He didn't have to think about whether anyone even saw he existed or if they were comparing him to the buff, masculine specimen walking beside him. Nope, it was just him.

Adam Lambert's 'Pop that Lock' flooded into his ears and he could help the hip sway he had going on. Mouthing the words and bobbing his head, he could almost see all the fancy lights in his face, center stage with his screaming fans all around him. "If you wanna be it, you've got to dream. If you've got the key then baby pop that lock! If you wanna free it, you have got to scream! If you got the key then baby pop that lock!" In that moment he was at least five blocks away from his school, breaking out into song wasn't a big deal though people driving by did stare at the way he strut his stuff.

Castiel could move with the best of them, when he was alone, anyway. He got a little awkward and lost all sense of balance and rhythm when he was in the presence of people he'd known for years. How could he not feel self-conscious? A scrawny, bony teen with big glasses and a funny face compared to all the other normal looking people? He was a geek, a nerd, dork, poindexter, whatever you wanted to call him he looked the part. It didn't matter if he could dance or perform, act in school plays or whatever else because he could never gather the courage to do any of those things in front of his peers. No one knew he loved Adam Lambert's new music, no one knew he looked at fashion magazines or gawked at the gorgeous actors like Chris Hemsworth. Castiel was the smart, dweeby guy who generally got his ass kicked from time to time.

He could see the school coming into view and walked with his back straight and shoulders squared. Today would be the day he'd show them, he'd show every single one of them that he was worth paying attention to.

As Cas mentally prepped himself for the day he was shoved aside by some rather large shoulders. He stumbled but managed to catch himself though his glasses sat crookedly on his nose. "Morning, Cassy." Came the familiar voice of his grade's bully, or... well not exactly a bully but a jerk none the less.

"Morning, Jet." Cas smiled shakily as the taller male strolled on ahead of him. He adjusted his posture a little but most people had already seen the little exchange they'd just had. He sighed, shoulders slumping to their usual position, maybe tomorrow.

"Dude!" Jet called loudly catching pretty much everyone's attention though Cas knew full well who Jet was hollering to.

Dean Winchester was walking up the sidewalk perpendicular to the one Castiel was on, those gorgeous bow-legs and that little bit of swagger he walked with was enough to make Cas itch. He cleared his throat and licked his lips unconsciously, watching Dean's bright smile as the other teen met up and high fived his best friend. Why was someone so pretty hanging out with a narcissistic orangutan like Jet? Okay, Jet was also pretty damn gorgeous for his age but he was an ass. He always 'in your face' and loud and obnoxious and... And he was always with Dean. That was the worst of it, he was always with Dean which made approaching the pre-supermodel fucking impossible.

Jet had the arrogant attitude of a high school jock even though they were only 14- another correction, Jet was 15, he'd failed a grade back in middle school and had joined their class as a result. He had a knack for pointing out things you didn't want anyone to notice, like that one time Cas remembered dumping milk on his lap two weeks ago and Jet couldn't help but point and laugh saying 'wet dream or couldn't make it to the bathroom?' It was the most horrendous moment of his young life thus far. And it was only worsened by the fact that Dean was right there to witness it...

"Got any money today, little Novak?" Another familiar voice creeped into his ear and made him shudder.

"Not today, Raphael." Cas tried to shrink a little as he walked but Raphael followed his movement. "Just a bag lunch..."

"Remember what I said last week about bringing money?" Raphael asked calmly as if he'd just ask for Cas to pass the salt or something.

Castiel nodded, "Yeah but I don't have any." He didn't want to take any kind of tone with Raphael and his posse, those guys were in the grade just below Michael's which meant they were two years older than himself. Usually this didn't happen in the morning because Michael always walked to school with him, Raphael had picked up on the fact that Michael didn't get up that early anymore.

"Better find some by lunch time." Raphael grinned and walked ahead of him, his hands shoved into his pockets. His friend Uriel high fived him after shoving Cas one more time, making sure he hit the sidewalk that time.

"Watch where you're walking, little Novak." They sneered, others chuckling at the sight.

Castiel hissed and looked down at his scraped hands; "Fuck..." he stood up and tried to wipe them off on his pants, smearing dirt and blood together. "Fuck." He snarled again, trying to ignore the crack in his voice the second time. He glanced to make sure that Jet hadn't noticed though more importantly that Dean hadn't. What did it matter though? Dean Winchester had seen pretty much every embarrassing thing he'd ever done, thanks to Jet's very observant gaze and 'I must point at everything and laugh' attitude. He was like freaking Nelson from the Simpsons!

Luckily Dean had moved on with Jet into the school though when Cas had glanced to check he'd made direct eye contact with Dean's ten-year-old brother, Sam, who was on his way around the school to where the middle schoolers entered the building. It was a stupid rule, high schoolers get the main entrance, everyone else enters the side doors. Well, it was stupid for everyone who wasn't in high school, anyway. It was probably better to separate them, really.

Sam glanced around and trotted over to meet him, "Are you okay?" He asked, the cutest most adorable concerned expression aimed at Castiel.

Cas cleared his throat and nodded, "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Happens all the time."

Sam glanced at the big-kid doors for a second and then back at Castiel, "Dean says that if someone's being a bully you should stand up to them."

To hear that from such a tiny little thing like Sam was astonishing, Cas had heard that the Winchesters were born with extra guts and bravery though he hadn't expected to see the same in the smallest of the clan. "Well don't worry about that, I've got it all under control." He pat Sam's shoulder and started for the entrance, "I've got a plan to stand up to them, just biding my time." He called over his shoulder, smiling at the grin Sam had given him before taking off to his doors. Cas sighed and hung his head again, if only he had some kind of brilliant scheme to get them off his back. What a great lie that was though, keeps the little ones happy at least.  _'And you're just all about pleasing people, aren't you?'_  He thought bitterly,  _'Shut up, me.'_

Castiel made it to his locker without much incident, he was pushed around in the halls as if he were invisible but aside from that it was fine. He adjusted his glasses, ever slipping down his sweaty nose, and swiftly spun the lock keeping him from the inside of his locker.

"Never ceases to amaze me how fast you are at that." His friend, Garth, leaned against the wall with a big smile; those goofy looking ears seemed to be a bit of a comfort to him. Like likes like, right?

"Morning, Garth." Cas smiled and looked around, "Chuck here today?"

"Nah said he came down with some abstract form of pneumonia or something." Garth shrugged.

Cas laughed, "Right, so he had a fever?"

"Nope, he sneezed unprovoked." Garth bounced his eyebrows up and down while keeping the most serious of expressions. He lifted his hands and flailed them frantically, a little thing that Chuck tended to do when he panicked, "Oh no! I sneezed while not staring up at a bright light! I must have testicular cancer and that rash I've been scratching is probably that flesh eating disease!"

Cas snickered again, "Man, better not make fun of that, some people don't think those illnesses are funny."

"He says while laughing." Garth grinned, "So ready for algebra?"

"Always." Cas grabbed the right notebooks, text books and his pencil kit – equipped with everything you might ever need for any mathematics class. So maybe he was a little nerdy, so what?

"Hey man, can I borrow a pencil?" Jet leaned over quickly on his way to class. Cas looked up with every urge to say 'hell no' but the moment he looked into those big brown eyes and saw how earnest they were he sighed.

"Sure," Cas opened his kit and relented one of his beloved tools – making a mental note to buy more pencils for such occasions. "Don't lose this one."

"Promise. Thanks a lot, Cassy." Jet hurried after Dean who hadn't bothered to wait for him.

"Don't call me that." Cas muttered.

"Dude not even  _I_  heard that." Garth looked at him like he was the dumbest smart person he'd ever met, "You gotta yell it man." He turned down the hall, "Don't call him Cassy!" He shouted while Cas was waving at him frantically to shut the hell up. The hallway of people started to snicker and Castiel could only smack his hand into his forehead.

"Aw man..." he pinched the bridge of his nose and started toward class, mentally praying that Jet was oblivious to that last one.

He got lucky, Jet had already gone into the classroom and was no longer paying attention to the hallway-world. Cas found his seat near the front of the class while Garth rolled his eyes tiredly. "Really? Can't we sit in the back today?"

"Why? You pay attention better up front." Castiel said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah but in the back people don't hit us with spit balls." Garth frowned as he dropped into his seat and sighed. "Do you always have to be such a goody-goody in class?"

"Good grades might not matter to you but they're all that  _I've_  got going for me so I'm going to focus on them." Cas grumbled as he opened his notebooks to a fresh page.

"Alright, can anyone tell me where we left off last week?" Mrs. Harvelle asked as she strolled up to the front of the room, Cas had to note she looked a little strange in professional clothing. He remembered two years ago they'd gone to the Harvelle ranch where she wore jeans and a plaid button-up shirt and she had looked so much better in that. He wondered if making a complaint to the school division about how teachers had to dress would make any difference?

Despite his thoughts he put his hand up, knowing full well he was the only one who had. "We'd just started order of operations with rational numbers." He said as soon as she acknowledged his hand.

"Very good, it seems Castiel is the only one who  _ever_  pays attention in class." She looked at the rest of them disapprovingly before starting to write on the chalkboard.

"Teacher's pet." Someone muttered, making Cas wince a bit.

' _No, no, it's fine. What does it matter what they say? They're only jealous you're doing better than they are. Shrug it off, big guy.'_  He told himself and did his best to ignore the few balled up papers that bounced off his head.

Garth, on the other hand, was never one to just accept it. He spun around and threw back a few of the paper assaults, "Hey! Leave him alone, ass-hats!"

Mrs. Harvelle turned back and looked at the class, "Alright, who was it?" She stared a few students down and after no one spoke up she looked at Jet, the only student that almost _no one_  would rat out. He was sitting back comfortably in his seat, arms crossed behind his head, his eyes closed. "Jet," she spoke loud enough to startle him.

He looked around the class and sat upright, "What?"

"Did you throw anything at Castiel?"

Jet snickered, "No, did you want me to?"

"You sure?" She ignored his offer.

"Yes I'm sure! I was aslee-" He stopped after giving himself away and cleared his throat, "I mean I uh... Yeah I got nothing."

Dean snorted back a laugh at his friend.

She sighed and went back to writing notes, "If I catch any of you doing it it'll be detention, hear me?"

Cas shrunk a bit, being defended by the teacher did  _not_  help. He glanced over his shoulder at the sneering, condescending expressions of his classmates and smiled sheepishly before looking back at his notebook. What was supposed to be his day was turning out to be a bust. And what did he even plan on doing to show them he was worth respecting? Whatever he did would just be laughed out of the school, he still had the same reputation so even if he did exactly what Jet did every day it'd be seen in a completely different light. Such was the life of an unpopular student.


	3. Chapter 3

The bell rang in a way that startled Castiel to no end, his nerves lighting up as he looked at the clock.

Lunch time.

He shook his head and started to pack up his things, he wasn't looking forward to the next forty-five minutes. Because let's be honest, it was never a full hour, was it? Always 'be ready in your seats ten minutes before class starts' and it took at least five minutes to pack up, go to your locker and then find your way to the lunch room. So forty-five minutes of free time while you weren't being herded around like cattle.

Castiel remembered Raphael's threat and dropped his head onto the desk. "Crap."

"What's up?" Garth threw his bag over his shoulder, all ready to enjoy his free time.

"Nothing, you go ahead. I've got to go... see Michael about something." Cas smiled and waved his hand to shoo his friend away.

"You sure? I can wait-"

"Well if neither of us saves a seat and Chuck's not here today we'll end up in the reject corner again." Cas shoved him, "Now go."

"Good point. See you in the lunch room, tough guy." Garth gave a quick salute before booking it out of the room, squeezing right past a few of the more attractive women in their class. Okay, 'women' was a tad over the top. 'Girls' was definitely a better way to put it.

Castiel slowly finished putting his things away, thinking about different ways he could maybe make some money before bumping into Raphael again. Suddenly something shifted into his peripheral vision – not exactly see, more like he was aware of a blur moving close to his head out of the corner of his eye, a pencil coming into focus just inside his space of seeing. Regardless of what it was it had startled him a second time, he jumped a bit and looked up at Jet's smiling face, the big jerk.

"See? Didn't lose it this time."

"No, I suppose you didn't. Thanks." Cas said curtly, snatching it back and stuffing it into the kit he'd already closed. Even though Jet did him a favour and returned the pencil he'd still done it after Cas had packed up meaning the gesture was more of an annoyance at this point. Weird, how important timing can be on one's mood.

Cas sighed and walked out of the room, his fingers finding the bridge of his glasses and pushing them up again. He hurried to his locker and shoved everything inside, grabbing his backpack again that held his lunch bag; he closed the locker and just as quickly dashed to the bathroom to relieve what he'd been holding in all morning. Breaks between classes were enough time to exchange your books and head to your seat for the same stupid rule 'be in your classroom ten minutes before class starts, in your seat and ready to learn five minutes before.' He hated that rule; he swore that if he got a bladder infection from these stupid people he'd make sure he sued them. Or something like that anyway. His mom would probably do the suing.

He walked into the bathroom and found all the stalls occupied.  _'Seriously!'_  He thought dismally. As a less popular person he tended to prefer the stalls over the urinals, more privacy and less of a chance for embarrassment to strike. However he couldn't hold on long enough to wait for the stalls to open and went to the disgustingly public alternative. He unzipped and after a few moments he sighed lightly as the pressure lifted off in sweet relief.

"That good?" He flinched when he heard Dean Winchester's voice and looked up to see the gorgeous teen had walked in after him.

"Uh..." Cas found absolutely no words to use in that moment. Of all the times for Dean to talk to him it was when he made 'happy noises' while at the urinals! God hated him, he was pretty certain now.

Dean just smirked and looked at the wall ahead of him, a common thing to do in a public-pee setting. Cas, however, couldn't help but steal one glance down. He was a teenager, a horny teenager, don't judge him.

"Whoa dude, no peeking." Jet, this time, spoke up as he walked in, an eyebrow raised suspiciously. "No homo." Cas' face flushed red and he quickly shook and did his pants back up, not daring to look at the perturbed look on Dean's face. Jet laughed a bit, "Wait, dude are you gay?"

Castiel only shook his head while washing his hands though he could have sworn his mouth had been zipped shut, or maybe super-glued? Regardless he couldn't find the strength to open it and speak. He tried to dart out of the bathroom, hands still dripping wet but he ran into Jet who'd positioned himself between Cas and the exit. "Then why are you staring at other guys' junk in the bathroom?"

One of the guys in the stalls laughed, "Homo!"

Cas swallowed hard, "Uh... It wasn't like that." He managed to say.

"Really? Then what was it? Because I'm pretty sure I caught you looking." Jet smirked, "Comparing sizes?"

Cas didn't know what else to say but that sounded like an easy out, "Yes, that's what it was."

Jet laughed and looked at Dean who had moved to washing his hands, keeping a (beautiful green) eye on Castiel. "He wants to compare dicks."

Dean just chuckled and shook his head, "Sorry, Cassy, not gonna happen."

Castiel winced at the nick name; even Dean started calling him that now. He just nodded and tried to get around Jet again but the big jerk didn't move. "Did you want to compare with everyone or just Dean?"

"Uh... uh-uhm..." Cas still didn't know how to escape this one.

Jet glanced at Dean again who only grinned back.

Cas swallowed again though the lump in his throat had only grown. He shakily gripped his bag as if it would be some kind of lifeline.  _'Oh crap...'_

* * *

Next thing Castiel knew he was tied to the flagpole outside, a big sign posted to his chest saying 'wants to compare dick sizes'. Oh, and of course his pants and underwear had been completely removed. Castiel wouldn't have thought that to be so bad if Dean had maybe been the one to do that last part, however Dean was an ace when it came to tying knots so of course that had been his job, Jet had gotten some other poor bastard to remove Cas' clothes while he'd written the sign and taped it on Castiel's chest.

He was pretty sure there was no way this day could get any worse.

But the world liked to prove him wrong. Raphael and Uriel walked up and just laughed, took as many pictures as they could and laughed some more. "I'm guessing you don't have any money?" He chuckled.

"No..." Cas hung his head.

"Well how about I just take something of yours and we call it even?" Raphael asked smoothly.

Cas bit his bottom lip to think about it, what on earth could he offer this thug? "I... I guess? Depends, what is it?"

Raphael reached to either side of Cas' face and gently lifted the glasses from his ears. "These."

Cas blinked a few times and shook his head, only seeing a bunch of blurs where the two bullies had previously been standing. "Wait not those, I can't see without them."

"Too bad." Raphael sounded much further away now. "They're mine, now."

"Hey! You can't do that!" Cas shouted but got no answer, "Hello! Raphael?" He waited a few seconds and dropped his head again. "Fuck..." He stared down at the blurry space he knew his bare legs were and tried to think of something that would make him feel a little better. He started mumble-singing 'Underneath' again, "Strip away the flesh and bone... Look beyond the lies you've known. Everybody wants to talk about a freak; no one wants to dig that deep. Let me take you underneath. Baby better watch your step, never mind what's on the left... You're gonna see things you might not wanna see. It's still not that easy... for me. Underneath..." He inhaled a shaky breath and bit back a sob as he heard people around him.

"Oh my- What the hell!" It was Mr. Singer's voice; he was pretty good putting faces and names to voices.

Cas glanced up though he still couldn't see the man, "Hello..."

"Who was it this time?" Mr. Singer muttered as he started working at the knot, "Shit... A Winchester?"

"Dean and Jet... and some other students." Cas answered, his toes curling a little in the soil beneath his feet. Embarrassed was so far from what he was feeling at that moment, there were no words to describe it.

"Figured, this is one hell of a knot. Hang on kid, I'll go get something to cut you out of that." Mr. Singer walked off, leaving Castiel alone again, still pantsless, his cock left completely exposed to the elements and mockery.

"Thanks..." He muttered. A moment or two passed and he wondered of Bobby was ever going to come back when he heard small footsteps approaching.

"So... your plan didn't work?" It was that adorably cute voice again.

"No, not really..." Cas sighed, even more embarrassed that a ten year old was standing in front of him now. "You... probably shouldn't look at this, it's a bit graphic for your age."

"Uh huh." Sam agreed half-heartedly from behind him now.

"What are you doing?" Cas tried to turn his head to see though he knew that even if he were able to look that far he'd only see a blob anyway.

"Untying you." Sam answered monotonously, "Dean did this, right?"

Cas nodded, "Yeah... You guys can tell just by looking at a knot?"

"Our dad teaches us different things than most people's parents." Sam laughed a bit and Cas felt the ropes fall slack.

"Thanks... I don't suppose you have any idea where I could find pants?" Cas rubbed his wrists and promptly moved them to cover himself.

"Lost and found?" Sam offered, "Sorry... about Dean. He can be a bit of a jerk when he's with Jet."

"Heh, I've noticed." Cas scoffed softly.

"You know, you have pretty eyes." Sam said out of freaking nowhere.

"Uh... um, what?" Cas blushed and looked in Sam's general direction. Even though he couldn't see properly didn't mean others didn't appreciate the effort to at least appear as though you can see them.

"I said you have pretty eyes. I never noticed before, 'cause of your glasses." Sam smiled, "Do you wear contacts now?"

"Oh, no... someone took them off my face while I was tied here." Cas laughed awkwardly, "I uh... thank you, for the compliment."

"Sorry," Sam sounded pretty genuine; it was a nice thing to hear for once. Though Cas was a little sad, it meant that the horrors of high school hadn't rotten this poor boy yet.

' _It'll happen.'_  He thought dismally.

"Oh, good you got him out of it." Mr. Singer walked up and put something made of fabric in Castiel's hands, he guessed pants. "Put these on."

Cas cooperated immediately and slid his skinny legs into the oddly smelling things. He didn't like that but he wasn't going to complain as long as something was covering his nakedness. "Thanks, again."

"Right, just try to keep your nose out of trouble." Mr. Singer said as he walked away again, apparently not realizing that Castiel normally wore glasses that were currently missing.

"If it were that easy you think I'd be tied naked to a pole?" Cas grumbled and started feeling around, trying to find his way inside.

"Need help?" Sam called.

"I've got it, thanks." Cas smiled back at him.  _'Last thing I need is to be walked inside wearing hideous and smelly pants after this fiasco by a 10-year-old, the little brother of...'_  He shook his head, trying not to think about Dean. It hurt that Dean would take part in something like that... Cas figured his crush had been a little far-fetched but he hadn't imagined he was so far off, that Dean was that out of reach.  _'Asshole. He's just another asshole.'_  He told himself bitterly.

Cas made his way to the office and smiled at the receptionists sitting behind the desk, "Hi... I was wondering if you could page my brother?"

"He's already here, actually." One of them motioned briefly but realized that Cas couldn't see her, "He's sitting by the principal's office."

"Thanks." Cas felt his way over though one of the ladies kindly helped him along. He sat down next to Michael and hung his head, "What are you doing at the principal's office again?"

"I punched a guy." Michael said smugly and placed something cold and familiarly shaped into his hands.

"My glasses!" Cas beamed and put them on then promptly took them off again for a good thorough cleaning. "How did you...?"

"I saw Raphael wearing them and sort of punched him... a few times. I didn't even ask, just figured he'd stolen them." Michael shrugged, "Don't say I never did anything for you."

Cas hugged him, "Thank you." He whispered, "Oh god, Michael. This has been the worst day."

Michael put his arm around Castiel and gave him a good squeeze, "I heard a bit about that."

"It just happened-"

"This is high school."

"Right." Cas sighed heavily, "I can't believe you recognized my glasses when they weren't on my face..."

"I don't know anyone else who has glasses that blow their eyes up to ten times the regular size." Michael chuckled, "But of course I recognized them, you're my brother and those are your glasses. That and mom and dad paid a lot of money for those things and if they have to buy you new ones I might not get that car..."

"Ass." Cas smiled.

"Always."

"So you're in trouble?"

"You know it." Michael snickered, "Despite your intentions you can't get away with punching someone several times."

"Well... Again, thanks."

"You've had a pretty rotten day, so I won't make you pay me back."

"You're so generous." Cas adjusted the glasses on his nose again, really happy to be able to see. His day had been one straight out high school hell and it was only half way done, how bad could the rest of it really be? His stomach grumbled and he realized that class would start soon and he hadn't eaten a single bit of his lunch. In fact his back pack had been stolen along with his pants... "Fuck."


	4. Chapter 4

Everything was pretty quiet after all of the lunch hour drama, well, aside from Garth constantly asking if Cas wanted him to get vengeance. But what could a 90 pound-when-wet guy like Garth do against someone like Jet? Or Dean even? It just wasn't something that was possible, even if two 90 pound guys ran at them it'd just be a joke. "Don't worry about it, Garth."

"What do you mean 'don't worry about it'?" Garth's jaw dropped, "Man, they can't get away with that kind of shit!"

"Well they're going to, what the hell can we do about it? Tell the teachers or something? Well they already know and none of them are doing anything." He adjusted his glasses and smiled a little, "Besides, I've already gotten enough revenge for something today."

"Michael punching Raphael was a funny story but it's not good enough, Cas." Garth grumbled.

Cas really couldn't care less about what Jet did, or Dean for that matter, just as long as they didn't try to spread the 'Cas is gay' line. As true as it might be in reality, he still didn't want it getting out. High school had been a very unforgiving place so far and he wasn't exactly looking forward to what these people would do to him if they found out. Just checking out another guy's dick in the bathroom was enough to get him tied naked to a flag pole, for pete's sake! That secret was something he'd definitely rather keep to himself.

During the last classes of the day, one was American history and the other English Language Arts; he tried to sit as far away from people like Dean and Jet though he could feel eyes on him, burning into him. He cleared his throat and sat as straight as he could, despite the feeling of judgement. He was whoever he wanted to be, so screw them.

Of course that never really works, does it? By the end of the day he walked with hunched shoulders like always, trying to disappear into the walls like he used to. He wasn't always given attention by the bullies and jerks in the school, he often just became a wall flower, a lot of people didn't even really know his name and if they did he was 'Michael's little brother' or 'little Novak'. It sucked to be so unnoticeable but it was even worse for them to zero in on him. At this point he just longed for the solitude he was used to, it was better than being tied to a flag pole...

He shoved his headphones over his ears and cranked the volume on his walkman; he didn't dare wait outside the school for Michael. He wanted to bob his head to the first song that he shuffled it to but knew he was still in full view of anyone at school, that kind of behaviour wasn't right for someone as unpopular as him. Only cool people were allowed to enjoy music publicly.

He just wanted to forget today ever happened.

* * *

Dean high fived Jet, their fingers hooked and they pulled one another into a sort of hug, slapping the other on the back. "See you later, man."

"I'll probably come by for supper." Jet smiled and started walking, "Later!" He passed Sam by as he walked down the street, ruffling the boy's hair as he went. "See ya, Sammy."

Sam frowned and fixed his hair, "Bye, Jet." He hurried over to Dean's side and instead of cooperating with the hug his older brother had opened his arms for Sam punched him in the stomach. Of course it didn't hurt much but Dean still winced.

"Ow! What the hell?"

"How could you do that to someone? Tie them to a flag pole naked?" Sam glared at him, and as much as he wanted to Dean could hardly take those big green eyes seriously. "And don't lie to me, I'm the one who untied him."

Dean scratched the back of his head and shrugged, "He was checking me out in the bathroom, kind of creepy."

"Did he really or did Jet say that?" Sam frowned.

"Does it matter? Jet's usually not wrong about those kinds of things." Dean started walking toward home, Sam hurrying along behind him.

"So you can be a jerk to him because of that?" Sam caught up and stared at his big brother intensely.

"You'll get it when you're older." Dean shrugged.

"I'm ten! I'm not an idiot, Dean." Sam pouted.

"Not what I said." Dean ruffled Sam's hair playfully, "Don't worry about it."

Sam grumbled furiously but followed anyway, he hated being little. Everyone in his family always said 'you'll get it when you're older' or 'you're too young for this conversation'. He was old enough! He could handle anything they talked about; clearly none of them realized how good he was at eavesdropping or spying. "He is pretty, though." He muttered.

"What!" Dean turned to look at his little brother, stopping entirely and watching as Sam continued up the sidewalk.

"Cas, his eyes. He looks really pretty without his glasses on, I mean his combed back hair could use some work but I think when he's grown up he'll be really attractive." Sam shrugged but didn't stop to wait for Dean. Not that Sam ever assumed Dean would take his word for it though, he was well aware of the age difference between them and that his opinion on the matter would be moot considering his age.

"You kidding? He'll be a pizza-faced nerd forever, shirt tucked into his slacks hiked up like flood pants." Dean scoffed and followed his clearly delusional little brother.

"He doesn't hike his pants up like that, does he?" Sam made a face, "I mean I knew this morning his shirt was tucked in but I didn't really pay attention to his pants."

"And I hope you never do." Dean started jogging, "Race you."

"No fair, head start!" Sam ran after him, his short legs working harder to keep up.

The boys booked it into the house, Dean won of course, laughing and playing like brothers do until, at least, when they saw their mother's angry face. "Dean, I got a call from the school today."

Dean cleared his throat and straightened up, "Okay..."

"You tied a boy to a flag pole? Naked?"

"He had a shirt on!" Dean exclaimed as if that helped in any way.

"That's not the point, Dean! Do you know how cruel that was?" She crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm very disappointed with you."

"But Jet said that-"

"Don't give me that, you know how you boys are together. It's no excuse, Dean. You were raised better than this." She pointed upstairs, "You're grounded."

"But mom-"

"Upstairs, young man!"

Dean frowned and ran up the stairs to his room, "Whatever."

"And Jet's going to get a talking to when he comes over later," She called after him, and sighed when she heard his door slam shut. "What has gotten into that boy?"

"Jet said that the guy was checking Dean out in the bathroom and things probably got out of hand from there." Sam answered quickly.

Mary rubbed her eyes, "Oh for Pete's sake..." she knelt down and pet Sam's hair down, fixing some of the mess that Dean had left it in earlier. "They also told me you helped that boy out," she smiled and kissed his cheek, "Good job, Sam."

Sam beamed and nodded, "Thanks mom."

"I should call that boy's mom and apologize... Maybe I'll take Dean over there to do it." She mused as she walked toward the living room, "That sounds like a good idea. I'll do that after supper tonight."

Sam shrugged and trotted up the stairs to put his stuff away, ignoring the blasting rock and roll music pounding behind Dean's door.

* * *

A few hours later John walked in the door, home from work and covered in grease and oil from the shop. He stretched and slipped his feet out of his shoes just in time for Sam to come running and hug his legs. Still seemed very affectionate for a ten-year-old but John wasn't going to complain, why stifle it? He'd get plenty of no-hugging greetings when Sam was older. "Hey, Sammy." He did the same as everyone else and ruffled the boy's hair. "How was school?"

"Hi dad!" Sam smiled up at him, "School was okay, Dean got in trouble." Quick to rat out his jerk of a brother.

"Oh?" John glanced at Mary who looked a little upset as it was. "I'm sure I'll hear all about it." He smirked at Sam again and handed him his jacket, "Hang that up for me?"

Sam gladly did so, rushing over to the closet. Mary smiled after her energetic son then approached John and kissed his cheek. "School called and said Dean and Jet tied a boy to a flag pole, removed his pants and underwear and just left him there."

John sighed and kissed her back, "Right... So the horrible teenaged years have begun, have they?" He started walking to the bathroom down the hall, "I'll shower and have a talk with him."

"We'll both talk to him," Mary added, "Sam says it's because Jet caught a boy checking Dean out and over reacted."

John mused for a second, "So we might have to just pat Dean on the back then?"

"John! That's a very hateful thing that those boys did, it's not okay to treat anyone that way." Mary snapped.

"Except gays are immoral sinners." John said tiredly.

Mary shook her head, "I can't believe you! We are not raising our boys to be intolerant assholes, John. I'm going to take Dean down to the Novak's house and make him apologize to that poor boy."

"I can't win this one, can I?" John looked at her, "I don't agree with it and my boys are going to understand that I'm definitely not okay with it. You can show them all you want but that doesn't mean I'll accept it."

Mary sighed in frustration and headed back to the kitchen to start on supper, just in time to hear the front door open. "Jet," she looked at the bright eyed teen as he kicked his shoes off.

"Yeah?" He smiled and walked closer though the vibe of anger she was giving off made him stop and take a step back. "What?"

"The school called me about what you and Dean did." She said evenly, his defensive stance not lost on her. "Calm down, I just want to talk to you about it."

Jet nodded slowly, "So... they're calling you about the stuff I do now? Or did Dean mention that I was involved?"

"They mentioned Dean had helped and it doesn't take a lot of thinking to know you were part of it." She crossed her arms and looked at him sternly, "Now why would you do that?"

"Because they guy's a queer." Jet shrugged though he knew he was getting the disapproving look, "Okay, okay, I know we went a little too far on that one, it was an assumption and I was in a bad mood."

"A little too far?" Mary had her scolding voice on, "You tied a poor boy to a flag pole almost naked, that's not just a 'little too far' Jet. I'm taking Dean down to the Novak's house to apologize, and though I'm not forcing you, you should come with."

Jet looked at her sincere expression, the motherly face he still had to get used to once in a while and sighed, "If it'll get you to stop looking at me like that, fine." He glanced up the stairs, "I'm guessing Dean's in his room?"

She nodded and let Jet go up, Dean had been in there for a few hours already so seeing Jet wouldn't be a big deal.

"Dude," Jet knocked on the door several times before opening, "Just got a 'talking to', how ya doing?"

"Frustrated." Dean sighed and sat upright from his position on his bed staring at the ceiling. "I wonder what my dad'll say about all this."

"Probably nothing stern, if you go to him during your, I'm assuming, grounded state you'll probably be able to do almost whatever you want." Jet leaned against the doorframe with a smirk, "Though we'll probably still have to go to Novak's anyway."

"What?" Dean furrowed his brow, "Why would we go there?"

"Your mom didn't tell you yet? She wants us to apologize to Cas." Jet pointed down the stairs with his thumb. "Guess she was only thinking about it before she told me."

"God this is gonna suck." Dean flopped back onto the mattress, "What the hell are we gonna say? Sorry for that, have a good day?"

Jet shrugged, "We over reacted and pushed it too far, I hope we figure out a way to fix it," he chuckled, "Or something like that."

"You're pretty good at this."

"In elementary school they always made us apologize to the person we wronged, I did a lot of fake apologies." Jet smirked, "It's pretty easy and it sounds believable, just as long as the adults don't catch that you're lying."

"I'm a pretty bad liar, might not be so easy." Dean sighed, "Well, fingers crossed that it all blows over and I'm only grounded for the evening."

Jet laughed and nodded, "Pretty much, yeah."

* * *

Supper was tense, Mary was mad at John who seemed to be in a foul mood as well. Sam shifted uncomfortably and slowly ate his vegetables first so as not to provoke any angry comments. Dean went straight for the meat, like Jet and John, keeping his eyes down on his plate for the most part.

"Boys," John broke the silence after a while, "Mary wants you to have open minds about the gay or not gay thing and that's fine but I just want you to know that I don't accept it."

"John," Mary sighed, "You don't have to-"

"They need to know ahead of time what I think of it," John cut her off, "So I'm telling them." He looked at Dean and Jet who had both stopped eating to pay attention to him, "I don't disagree with what you two did and if I had my way you wouldn't have to go and apologize to that kid."

Jet smiled a bit and glanced at Dean who wasn't sure what to say, or how to react. He'd always wanted his dad's approval but he loved his mom. What on earth do you do when they disagree on something that drastically? "Uh... thanks dad."

John nodded and went back to his supper; the rest of the meal was eaten in an awkward silence. Once they were finished Mary piled Dean and Jet into the car, Sam wanted to go along for the ride so he clambered into back of the car. He glanced at Jet who had lost the rock-paper-scissors war with Dean just moments earlier, "You're really going to apologize?" He asked genuinely.

Jet's gaze shifted toward Mary in the front and then nodded at Sam, "Yeah of course, it's the right thing to do after all."

Dean scoffed and was promptly smacked by Jet.

Mary tapped her fingers on the steering wheel before getting back out, "I'll be right back, boys." She went inside to have a few words with John. Sam stared through the window though all he could see were their silhouettes through the curtains.

Dean squinted a bit and watched the brief exchange and glanced at Jet who was chuckling. "What?"

"Your mom is giving your dad shit about that little bit during supper." Jet snickered.

"You can you tell?" Dean furrowed his brow and looked back at the window.

"It's just in their stances. Your mom is on the offense and scolding, there's not much they could be talking about." Jet shook his head, "Nah, John's angry little 'I hate gay people' is going to be stunted or something ugly's gonna happen."

Sam looked at Dean worriedly who smiled at his little brother, "It's okay Sammy, I wouldn't worry about it too much."

Sam nodded and fiddled with his seat belt.

* * *

"You know it wasn't  _that_  bad." Jimmy, Castiel's father said quietly as he watched his son slowly melt into the couch cushions. "I had a pretty rough time in high school too, kiddo."

"I'm sure it wasn't as bad as today." Cas muttered, his fingers deftly manoeuvring over his controller as he played his Skyrim game. He'd wanted the PC version but their desktop computer was pretty old and the better one was used by his mom for her work so he was forbidden to touch it most of the time. So he was stuck with the console version.

Jimmy raised an eyebrow as he watched Castiel's character swing a great sword and massacre a farmer's cow and chicken. "I may not have been exposed to my classmates before but... Well... You can't let these things get to you."

"How can I not!" Cas shouted as he paused the game and stared up at his father, "how can I not let it get to me, dad? I'm a social outcast! I'm ugly and awkward and everything I do is used against me in some way."

Jimmy sighed and sat down beside him, "I was a nerd in high school too, glasses and slicked down hair, and the worst skin complexion." He smiled at his son, "But you grow out of that."

"And the fact that I'm a living stick person?" Castiel pouted, pulling at his Batman pyjama shirt for emphasis.

"That's not even a question, Cas. You'll get taller, broader, and after that you just have to work out, exercise a bit and you'll be as handsome as Michael." Jimmy chuckled, rubbing Cas' shoulders.

"Except I have the worst eyesight, they don't make contacts for my kind of vision."

"Well they do but we can't afford them." Jimmy shrugged, "When you get a job and save up money maybe you can pay for laser eye surgery or something."

Cas scoffed and shoved his dad playfully, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

The doorbell rang, startling them both. Cas looked at Jimmy curiously and his dad shrugged before walking over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hi, my name's Mary Winchester-"

Cas' mind blanked after hearing that, Mary Winchester, Dean's mom. What on earth was she doing here? He got up and peered out of the living room at the front door, at his first glance she was the only one he could see however there were other pairs of legs beyond hers. He squinted a little see them better and recognized they belonged to a shorter person, much shorter, must be Sam.

"Certainly, Cas would you come here?" Jimmy called over to him, motioning for him to come closer.

Cas swallowed and looked down at himself, suddenly despising his comfort-clothing choice. A batman t-shirt that was way too big on him and a pair of black and white plaid pyjama bottoms. Regardless though it might just be Mary and Sam, not a huge deal. He walked over and looked out the door past her briefly, an absent-minded thing that resulted in his heart nearly stopping. Dean and Jet were standing there too.  _'Kill me now, please.'_  He thought miserably, taking a slight step back.

"Hi, Castiel." Mary smiled, "I believe Dean and Jet have something they'd like to say to you."

She stepped aside for them, moving Sam out of their way as well. Dean cleared his throat and followed Jet's lead as he walked a bit closer. "Cas," Jet started and sounded incredibly sincere, Cas had to remind himself why these two were on his doorstep. "I'd like to apologize for earlier today; I went too far with it and over reacted. You didn't deserve that."

"I'm sorry, Cas." Dean offered as well, "There isn't an excuse for what we did."

Cas raised an eyebrow and glanced at Mary briefly before looking back at them, he knew what this was. They were being forced by Dean's mother to apologize, he wasn't sure if he wanted to point it out or not. "Okay." Was all he offered as a reply, he really wasn't in the mood for this. The guy he'd had a crush on for nearly a year had tied him to a flag pole earlier that day, people should understand that he didn't feel like going along with the stupid charade.

"Cas," Jimmy looked at him, "Is that all you have to say?"

Dean and Jet both looked at him strangely and he furrowed his brow, pushed his glasses up his nose and walked back into the living room, "They should be glad I said that much! Those liars are only doing it because Mrs. Winchester is here watching them."

Mary sighed, "Oh dear..."

Jimmy mimicked her sigh and looked at her with a shrug, "He's a tad upset."

"I don't blame him." She looked at the two perturbed teens, "Come on guys, let's go home."

"He's good." Jet said decidedly and headed back to the car.

"Why wouldn't he accept the apology?" Dean asked, "We came and said sorry, he should be happy."

Cas felt his face light up with anger, his hand finding the closest solid item as he stormed toward the door, "I should be  _happy?_ " He nearly shrieked (thanks to his voice cracking) and smashed Dean on the head with what turned out to be his mom's vase, shattering it into pieces. "You arrogant, selfish, self-righteous asshole! Fuck you, I should be happy! I don't need your fake apologies, Dean! Get the hell away from my house!" He swung and missed this time with whatever piece he had left in his hand.

Jimmy grabbed him and hauled him backward, "Castiel! What has gotten into you?"

Dean rubbed his head and stumbled backward, Mary ushering him toward the car, "What the hell?" Dean muttered in a daze, he'd never had someone lash out at him like that before.

"I'm terribly sorry," Jimmy looked at Mary who sort of waved it off.

"We'll get going, it's okay." She caught Jet's arm as he moved to get revenge, "Jet, in the car."

He frowned but listened to her.

Cas snarled as he watched the Winchester's vehicle drive away. He pulled himself free of Jimmy's grip and stomped inside. "Wow," Michael said nearly breathless from the spectacle, "Look at you."

"Shut up, Michael." Cas fumed as he saved his game and turned off the console.

"Seriously, I'm impressed." Michael grinned, "Nice arm."

"I'm not impressed!" Jimmy panicked, "What am I supposed to tell your mother when she comes down here?"

"Whatever you want." Cas ran up to his room and slammed the door behind him. He leaned against it and slumped down to the floor, curling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He was going to hear about that one tomorrow, he was pretty sure.


	5. Chapter 5

"I still don't get why he was so mad." Dean muttered as he and Sam trekked to school the next morning.

"You're a jerk, that's why." Sam shrugged, "What's to get? He didn't believe you when you said you were sorry."

Dean nodded though his mind was too busy trudging through the scenario from the day before. That angry way Castiel had screamed at him, like it wasn't just a petty argument like the ones Dean was used to. Cas really meant everything he said. "But I'm such a likeable guy!"

"You tied him to a flagpole half naked." Sam reminded him, "I'd hate you too."

"You think he hates me?" Dean looked genuinely upset with that.

"No, Dean. I think people smashing each other over the head with vases is a sign of love and respect." Sam rolled his eyes and adjusted his back pack on his slender shoulders.

Dean paused and stuck his bottom lip out in thought, "You know I'm not liking this new grasp of sarcasm you've got going." He started walking again to catch up, "What should I do?"

"You're asking your 10-year-old brother for social advice in the high school world," Sam raised an eyebrow, "You sure you want to listen to what I have to say?"

"You're one of the smartest kids I know." Dean grinned, enjoying the light blush on Sam's cheeks as it formed.

"Well... I'd apologize again, just you and him." Sam nodded, "Make sure he knows you mean it."

Dean nodded, "Yeah... Just gotta get him alone."

"And don't tell anyone else about what he did to you." Sam added, "It wouldn't help."

"Well it wouldn't look good on my part either," Dean shrugged, "Going over to his place to apologize because my mom said so. Yeah, that wouldn't fly so well."

* * *

Castiel groaned and rolled over, enjoying the clean feeling of his sheets first thing in the morning. Well, he did enjoy it until he felt a throbbing familiar sensation in his lower regions. He reached down and stroked the hardened lump beneath a thin layer of cotton and polyester. A soft moan escaped him and his hand slipped beneath his pyjamas and underwear to alleviate the pressure he was feeling. His thumb traced over the moistened tip and he lifted his hand up to his face to look at the traces of pre-cum clinging to his skin. Granted he couldn't see it but he knew it was there. A few thoughts trotted through his mind though he didn't consider them long before licking it off. A small smile crept over his lips and he had to say, he was envious of whoever got the chance to blow him.

Cas slipped his hand back down, sliding over his abdomen and feeling himself up before returning to the task at hand. He closed his eyes and pretended he was doing this for someone else, that someone was watching him and enjoying every second of it. He slowly lowered his pants and briefs, thumbs hooked into the lip of them and sashaying them down his hips. Cas mewled quietly as the fabric dragged over his dick until he'd freed himself from the constraints, the cool air in his room felt amazing on his heated flesh. He started in on stroking his erection and even though he wanted to 'put a show on for his audience' he lost himself in the feeling almost instantly and came nearly just as fast. He gasped and fumbled for his Kleenex box, trying to not make much of a mess in his sheets.

As he wiped himself clean he glanced at the clock, curious as to the time since he hadn't woken by alarm. It read nine-thirty in the morning; class started at nine. "Oh... FUCK!" He flailed and pulled his underwear back up, kicking his pants off and finding his jeans. "Crap! Crap! Crap!" He stumbled around as he pulled his shirt off over his head and started buttoning up the one he'd laid out for school the night before.

Cas bolted to the bathroom only to find that the door was locked and the room was clearly occupied. He hit it a few times, "Hurry up! I slept in and I have to get to class!"

Michael opened the door and was promptly weaseled around and shoved out. "Whoa whoa!" He exclaimed, lost his balance and fell back against the newly locked bathroom door. A laugh escaped him as he stood up again, "Little man you're already late, why not take your time? No point in panicking now."

Cas didn't answer, quickly brushing his teeth with one hand while the other combed his hair down, adding a small amount of gel to make it stay flat. Last thing he needed was a bad hair day too. He spat and rinsed and then moved to pee, he didn't like urinating first and then brushing his teeth, it seemed unsanitary... He'd have to shower after school this time; at least he'd showered after supper yesterday so he didn't smell bad.

He hurried to his room and grabbed all of his school gear and stumbled down the stairs. "Castiel!" his mom called, "Don't leave without your lunch, dear."

Cas stopped and went to the kitchen and grabbed the bag, "Thanks mom." He kissed her cheek and then went to put his shoes on. "I'll see you when I get home." He called before booking it out the door. Normally he wouldn't care if he'd slept in, he'd just roll over and wait until someone forced him up. However at this point he had to go to school, absolutely had to. If people noticed that he was missing the day after something so embarrassing it'd only add to his suffering. They'd pick up on it and tease him even more, he knew because it'd happened before in middle school. Not so drastically but close enough.

He threw his headphones over his ears and ran down the street toward school; he found a more upbeat song to run to, it helped him focus and continue longer though his limbs felt weak after a few blocks. He grit his teeth and tried harder though his physical capabilities failed him and he ended walking more than half of the way there. "I'm so out of shape..." he muttered, mentally telling himself to go for more runs or walks instead of playing Skyrim.

Cas walked into the school just as first class let out, mentally cursing his luck for missing it in the first place. He was going to move through the crowd toward his locker though he felt a hand on his arm and was dragged to a less crowded space, "I want to talk to you." It was Dean.

Cas nearly lost himself in those big green eyes except a small scar on Dean's forehead reminded him why there was an unsettling feeling in his stomach. "I think we've said enough to one another." He said curtly but couldn't find it in himself to walk away.

"Cas, I really am sorry about last night." Dean said earnestly, "It was because my mom told me to that I went yesterday but I'm telling you the truth now."

Cas felt his heart leap and his palms get a little sweaty. Was this real? His expression softened as he looked between Dean's eyes for a few seconds. To Dean it would appear as though he were considering forgiveness and the sincerity of the claim; however Cas was mostly just taking the time given to him as far as he could to study those gorgeous eyes. "Alright." He said finally with a soft laugh, "And I'm sorry about the vase... Does it hurt?" He reached over to touch the scar though he couldn't help but hesitate, goddamn social awkwardness kicking in just in time to stop him.

"Nah I'm fine." Dean smiled, "My mom was pretty surprised but you know what? She told me I deserved it for doing it in the first place. Though thanks to you hitting me I'm no longer grounded, seems I've learned my lesson."

Castiel giggled, something he suddenly wanted to hit himself for, "Well as long as it did some good, I suppose." He licked his lips unconsciously and momentarily forgot; he forgot social status, he forgot Dean's reputation and his own, he forgot that there was a hierarchy for these kinds of things. Castiel leaned forward and kissed Dean's cheek, enjoying it for about a millisecond before Dean shoved him against the wall.

"WHOA!" Dean shouted, not realizing how much strength he'd put into it. Castiel gasped when his lungs released all of the air he'd been holding and coughed, struggled to get it back. "Fag, that's not what this was about!"

Cas suddenly realized what he'd just done and mentally slapped himself for it, "I..." He felt his heart freeze up again, his stomach churning angrily from anxiety. "I'm sorry." He hurried away as quickly as his legs would carry him, should have stayed in bed.

* * *

The day was tense for Castiel though he didn't worry about it too much, not until the last class anyway, gym. At least it was at the end of the day, right? Not that big of a deal... Right? He sighed as he walked to the change room, Garth and Chuck on either side of him; he let them go in first and followed begrudgingly.

The room seemed to fall silent as he walked in, his fingers nervously tracing the stitching on his gym bag. Obviously they'd heard about the scene from that morning. He crossed the room with his head angled down, nervously chewing on the insides of his cheeks. He made it halfway before bumping into Jet, an angry look on his (admittedly handsome) face. "Get out, gay boy. We don't want you perving on us while we're changing."

Cas swallowed, he had to say that Jet's angry face was downright scary. His neutral expression lingered on anger most of the time so seeing him actually pissed off sent a little wave of fear down his spine. He nodded and walked back out of the change room before getting any more trouble. "Hey!" Garth shouted, getting shushed by Chuck the moment his mouth had opened. "That's not cool, Jet." Garth walked over and basically looked like a yipping Chihuahua next to the older teen, "You can't just tell him to get out, this is a free country you know."

Jet stared down at him for a moment before laughing, "Right, you can go with him if you want, pipsqueak."

Garth puffed up a little, "Maybe I will!" His tone suggested that it was a very important thing that he wasn't going to give them the honour of changing with him. He grabbed his things and marched out, "Come on Chuck."

Chuck made a few nervous noises and followed his friends out, "We just got kicked out of the cool group forever, you get that right?"

Garth raised an eyebrow and looked at him for a prolonged period of time before finally dignifying that with a response, "Man, we  _are_  the cool group. We just kicked _them_  out." He walked into the guy's bathroom figuring that's where Castiel would have moved to change. He'd opened his mouth to say something though the sound of sobbing made him stop for a moment. "Cas?"

Castiel sat curled in on himself in the furthest stall, feet up on the toilet seat and the door locked. He sniffled and took deep breaths over and over but he just couldn't stop crying. "Why is it so hard?" he bawled when he noticed Garth's form dropping down on the floor just outside his stall.

Garth was quiet for a little while as he considered the question. "Well it's life, life's hard for everybody. That includes every form of interaction you'll ever have with other people, it doesn't always work out." He shrugged, "But if you're referring to why dealing with those particular people is so hard it's because they sad."

Cas snivelled and promptly blew his nose with the nearby toilet paper, "I think I'm the sad one, Garth..."

"When I say sad I mean pathetic, unhappy with themselves. Now I know what you're about to say; 'everyone's unhappy with themselves, Garth'. But these guys are particularly petty about it, you show the slightest bit of strength of character they realize you're doing better than they are and they can't handle that. What just happened is them being insecure with themselves, they're upset that you could be so sure of yourself to kiss someone, knowing exactly what you wanted. They had to take you down; they can't stand seeing someone more certain of their choices than themselves."

Cas opened the door and looked down at his friend comfortably sitting on a bathroom floor, then over at Chuck who was leaning against the sink, smiling at him. Castiel wiped his eyes and nodded, "Thanks guys."

"How about we skip the last class?" Chuck offered, "No one likes phys. ed. anyway."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Garth grinned, "Let's go get slushies, on me of course."

Castiel sighed with some relief, somehow even though his day had already been shortened by sleeping in it felt even longer than normal. Skipping another class wouldn't be the end of him, it was probably better anyway. "You guys are the best." He wiped his eyes free of the remaining tears and grabbed his bag, "Let's get our stuff."

Garth stood up and gave him a hug, giving a firm few pats on his shoulder as he stepped back again, "That's the spirit!"

As they walked out of school early Castiel mentally thanked whatever gods out there that still might love him for friends like these two, he wasn't sure he would make it through high school in one piece otherwise.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This is the chapter with the 'questionable consent.' I only leave this warning here because some believe it is classified as 'rape' (though it is written with the intention that the 'victim' is willing throughout the sexual experience just not the following scenario -which is not sexual and just violent). So the warning is here regardless

"If you want to free it, you have got to scream. If you've got the key then baby pop that lock." Cas bobbed his head, a little sway in his torso and swing in his hips as he washed the dishes that weekend. He'd made it through the week as horrible as it was, ostracized and singled out for bullying which had spread to Garth and Chuck as well. It was a lot to handle but somehow his friends managed it with him and they trudged through the last few days together.

He'd been given dirty looks by all the guys in school, more than just spit balls and paper hit him after that. Pens, pencils, even someone's kit had been thrown at him. He refused to tell Michael about any of it, running to your older brother is a chicken shit thing to do and he didn't need that added to the list of things already held against him. At the end of Friday he'd said goodbye to Chuck and Garth and headed home only to be followed by a group of people he didn't recognize, he had run for his life and to his surprise he'd managed to make it home unscathed though they were now well aware of where he lived. He cursed the fact that Michael had football practice after school on Friday's otherwise he may not have almost died from running for so long. Geez he felt out of shape.

Oh well, at least he got his exercise in, no need to go back out there and do it again, right? Though it was Saturday so maybe that didn't apply... He wiped the damp cloth over the last plate and propped it up in the cupboard with the rest. He stared at the stack for a moment and wondered what it might be like as part of a big group like that, which plate was the most popular? He looked at the one plate that was left over from an old set his parents used to own, all the others had been broken or lost somewhere and that one was the only one left. He picked it up and ran his thumb over the clean surface, he had to wonder if this plate was praised for how different it was or if maybe it was ridiculed for it?

Cas smiled as he imagined a small story for the plate, how it was all alone in the unfriendly world of the cupboard. It was the only one of its kind and other plates didn't understand, they hated it and wanted to hurt it. A few of the discoloured plates from the other set stood up with it but in the end it was still the only one singled out and bullied.

He held the plate close to his chest and hung his head, tears forming in his eyes. A quick glance around the room as if someone might be watching him, he ran up the stairs and to his room. Cas propped the plate up on his mantle and stepped back to look at it, "Just you and me, little guy." He whispered and walked back out to finish the chores he'd been given for the day. Jimmy and Amelia had gone to the auction house like they did every Saturday, hoping to get things their family needed for really cheap. It was just something they did though rarely did they have enough money for anything really nice. Michael often went with them though mostly it was because some of his best friends were there selling things, it was better than sleeping in and doing the chores with Castiel.

Cas didn't mind the work though, he was usually done all his homework by Friday evening and if he got all his chores done early he could spend his time uninterrupted playing video games for hours. He wished they'd invent virtual reality already, though. That'd be so sweet, looking like someone else, playing with other people like he was always one of the cool guys... But of course technology wasn't anywhere close so he'd have to wait.

He went into the shed outside their house and yanked the lawn mower free from under several other tools and equipment, coughing as the dust sprayed up into his face. It was an old piece of crap but it worked so the Novak's didn't bother replacing it. Cas filled the tank from the Jerry can set up nearby specially for the lawn mower. He dragged it to the back yard, rolled up his sleeves and started pulling on the string to get the motor going. It took several tries but eventually he did get it, he held the handle down for a second to catch his breath and started pushing the loud machinery around the yard.

The backyard was easy enough; just toss a few things out of the way, no issues. He went around to the front to get the obviously more important lawn cut down to size –it was a neighbour pleasing thing, he was pretty sure. If it were up to him he wouldn't give a damn about mowing it until it was as high as his ankles but maybe that was the lazy teenager talking.

"Hey, faggot."

Cas flinched and looked up, wondering who on earth would be harassing him while he was at home of all places. The teenagers from Friday afternoon were standing about five feet away from him, hands shoved into their pockets, malicious grins on their faces. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and gave a short wave, "Fellas," he could feel his eyes widening slowly as his heart pounded louder than the lawn mower in his ears.  _'Oh god...'_

After a second or two of the trespassers looming in toward him, Castiel abandoned the lawn mower and bolted to his front door, hearing their footsteps close behind him. He reached the door and turned the knob though he felt hands on the collar of his shirt yanking him back. He tried to push forward but they were much stronger than him, soon he found himself sprawled on the front step with sharp pains in his sides. He looked up to see them winding up and quickly closed his eyes, even if he was going to get beat up he at least didn't want to see it happening.

Cas curled in on himself though it didn't make the blows to his body any softer. Several unpleasant and hurtful things were shouted at him and he'd rather not let them be repeated. After what felt like forever but probably was only a few minutes, they finally left. He wiped the spit from his face as he sat up, looking down the street after them, just in time to see his family's car pulling up. The passenger door opened before the vehicle had actually stopped, Michael bolting out after the teenagers that had just left their property.

Amelia hurried to Cas' side and started to get him up, "Oh my poor baby!" She cried, wiping him clean from dirt and trying to usher him inside.

However his eyes were stuck on the form of his brother chasing those pig-headed assholes down, knocking one of them out with one punch and sprinting after the others who had started to run for their lives. Jimmy could tell that Michael wasn't fast enough to catch them so he reversed the car and tore down the road after them; just enough to freak the guys out as he nearly touched the backs of their legs. Of course he didn't actually do anything though scaring them away was good enough.

Michael walked back down the street, kicking the unconscious guy once to get him off the sidewalk and kept going until he reached the house again. Cas had been hauled inside, Amelia going on about 'those horrible brutes' and other things like that as she tried to make Cas feel better. He smiled awkwardly and looked up as his dad and brother walked in, "That was kind of awesome..."

"Far from it, I better not catch you driving like that." Jimmy smiled and gently pet Cas' hair. "Why don't you go get cleaned up? We'll get some ice packs ready for you."

"I'll finish the lawn," Michael nodded and headed back outside.

Cas quietly thanked them and moved upstairs to get ready to get cleaned up, pausing to look at the plate again. He knew it was silly but he went over to it anyway, taking it down for a second and pressing his lips to it for a kiss. He smiled and put it back, somehow feeling comforted by the porcelain thing. A symbol of his ability to put up with it, his strength in the face of such horrible people. As he grabbed a change of clothes he closed his eyes in further quiet thanks for people like his family, glad he had so much support all around him. Maybe people would get over this at some point; it wasn't like he was the only homosexual in the whole world or anything. Granted he was unpopular, skinny and geeky but that wasn't who he would always be. Someone would see past it someday, that's all he could hope for. That and maybe he'd get lucky and end up being really, really attractive, though that was also more about hard work than it was about luck. He'd have to take care of his body, that was for sure.

* * *

The following months were just as hard as that first week, constantly ridiculed and mocked and left out of basically everything. He couldn't skip every gym class so changing in the bathroom before class started was the only option for him. He didn't even bother going into the change rooms any more, and he definitely stuck to the bathroom stalls. No way was he going to do the 'pee publicly at the urinal' thing again.

The nice thing was that Garth and Chuck joined him in avoiding the change room, it was an act of friendship and loyalty and he appreciated the support. At least there were two other people in the school who didn't want to make fun of him. Well, not just two in the whole school, he knew that Michael wouldn't hurt him and that Sam was an open-minded kid. So four people in the student body, not bad, right? At least he had that many.

Their class had a field trip to a museum that week and Cas couldn't have been more excited for it. He loved museums, the statues didn't move or speak so there was no way they could hurt him. Some of the displays were just breath taking, as well. He'd packed two lunches, one for when someone stole it and another for himself. He kept all the good things in his personal lunch and left the items he didn't like in the other one. On the bus ride, as he expected, someone shoved him and demanded he hand it over otherwise they'd spend the day harassing him. He begrudgingly handed it over, his head low and eyes mostly averted. The guy left happily with it and Cas sighed his relief, "Well at least that's over with."

"You shouldn't give him the food in the first place." Garth argued.

"I think we already know how that ends, Garth. I want to have a good day, today." Cas looked at him flatly. "And I'm sure Chuck wouldn't mind a break from the bullying as well."

"I'm good," Chuck smiled though they could tell he was lying quite plainly.

"Well regardless," Cas looked out the window, "I can't wait until we get there. I'm so excited."

"Nerd," Someone reached behind him and tweaked his ear.

Garth spun around tweaked their eye in return, "Asshole!"

Of course the following moments were broken up by the teachers though Garth did sit back down with a good bruise on his cheek. Granted he was very proud of that bruise, he'd earned it for injuring the other guy. Cas smiled at him, "Thanks again, Garth."

"Just doing what I can." Garth smiled back.

They arrived at the museum, everyone staying in their assigned groups as the teachers set up the tours and everything else. Castiel stared at one of the large statues in the lobby and smiled to himself, nothing anyone did today would ruin his mood. He glanced around the lobby at the other small displays when someone caught his eye. He looked at the rather handsome male standing nearby, the guy's eyes slowly raking up and down his body. Cas blushed and glanced away, figuring he must have been imagining it.

"Hey," the guy's voice was smooth and somewhat seductive as he approached Cas, the younger teen trying his hardest to steady his heartbeat.

"Uh, hi." Cas glanced up at him and almost shuddered, beautiful dark eyes stared back at him, a suggestive smile on the guy's face.

"You're pretty cute." He said just as evenly.

"You don't mean that," Cas looked away.

"I do, you're just my type actually." He reached over and subtly slipped his hand along Cas' lower back, resting it on the teen's hip.

Cas could feel his face light up as if it were on fire, an even warming feeling swirling in his gut and heading south. "R-really?" he looked up again into those luring eyes, "I'm not too dorky for you?" His eyes glanced up and down at the muscled arm around him, the way this guy's shirt clung tightly to his defined chest.

"Not at all." He glanced at the class that Castiel was with and then nodded toward the rest room, "Why don't we head over to the bathroom for a second?"

Cas could feel himself nodding, feel this guy's arm leading him gently and yet the only thing he knew he felt for certain was the burning in his cheeks and the blood rushing out of his brain. He tried to calm his heart though how could he really? After months of harassment and hateful actions someone was interested? Someone thought he was their type and they were this gorgeous? How could he not be excited?

Cas walked in first at the other guy's prompting, "What's your name?" He asked just as he felt hands slip around his torso and stroke his chest, sliding down to the button of his pants.

"Call me Eddie," he whispered in Cas' ear, "And you, hot stuff?"

"C-Castiel," Cas gasped as his pants were opened for him, that firm hand teasing the skin all around the area he wanted to be touched,  _needed_  to be. He shuddered and moaned, most of his weight leaning against Eddie's strong torso as he kissed at the other male's neck.

"You want more?" Eddie whispered, his fingers grazing over the lump in Cas' underwear. Castiel whined and nodded eagerly, anticipating the firmer touch of someone else's hand. "You gotta work for it, baby," Eddie moved them to one of the bigger stalls, Cas following though his limbs felt pretty useless. "On your knees, pretty boy."

Cas looked up into Eddie's eyes again, that pretty smile and those plump lips. Cas leaned in a little and Eddie closed the gap with a kiss, enough of a romantic gesture to get Castiel kneeling on the bathroom floor. He worked Eddie's pants open and freed his half-hard cock, an impressive size he had to admit. Cas licked his lips before wrapping them around the shaft, he'd never done this before and quite frankly he sort of liked it. His tongue slowly worked around the warm skin to get a taste, he moaned into the feeling of having another guy's dick in his mouth, he loved it. He bobbed his head along the length of it for a little bit, working it up until Eddie was fully hard. Granted Cas wasn't sure what he was doing, exactly, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy himself.

Of course after a few minutes of Cas trying to get used to the sucking motion, Eddie lost patience and gripped Castiel's hair, holding him in place as he bucked forward. Cas coughed a little but tried to cooperate with it, he felt a little bad that he wasn't good enough but it was his first time giving a blow job, what could he really expect of himself? Granted he'd imagined something a little more... glamorous when he pictured it in the past. Oh well, he enjoyed it and he was going to get something in return so it wasn't so bad.

Cas didn't expect the wash of heat in the back of his throat, he couldn't help but sputter and cough (another thing he hadn't pictured happening when he imagined it). Just as he was going to recover from Eddie's sudden release he was violently struck in the face and knocked to the floor. He hadn't realized anyone else had entered the bathroom but he was quite aware of it now as they dragged him out of the stall by his hair. "AH! Wh-what?" He scrambled away when they let go, his eyes shooting over to Eddie's suddenly very cruel expression.

"Thanks, freak." He said as he zipped up again.

Cas flinched when several camera flashes went off, a handful of the cruel guys from his class laughing hysterically and shouting crude comments at him. Cas' bottom lip quivered, tears stinging his eyes as he wiped his mouth clean of the bitter seed. One of them handed some money over to Eddie saying something like 'thanks man, you're the best cousin ever'. Castiel sobbed once though it was choked short when one of the guys grabbed his hair again and slammed his face into the countertop, knocking his glasses clean off.

Cas was dropped back to the floor and he felt around for his sight, he felt something warm leaking down the side of his face and tasted blood on his tongue. It was a better taste than Eddie, anyway. "My glasses..." he muttered, his fingers brushing past them and a little bit of relief washed over him as he grabbed them. However before he could pick them up a foot stepped down on his hand, crushing it to the floor. Cas let out a loud yelp of pain, trying to tug his hand backward but the cruel teen pushed down harder until a crunch was heard.

Another of the bullies laughed and took that time to give a swift kick to Castiel's exposed belly then stomping on his back when he slumped to the floor. "Please" Cas begged, "Please stop, I can't..." He sobbed through the pain in his hand, knowing that the feeling of his glasses wasn't supposed to be so twisted. The guys beat on him a little more, laughing and cheering one another on before they finally walked out.

Castiel groaned and used his good hand to at least pull his pants up again and do them back up. He started to get off the floor, every bit of him throbbing as he used the counter to stand. The door opened again and he looked toward it miserably, his hair matted, bruises forming all over his body, blood leaking down his face and out of his mouth, and of course his now very broken hand with parts of his glasses embedded in it. He looked awful; he knew it though he wasn't aware of how bad. The blurry figure stood there for a moment, Cas glanced down at the counter top as he heard the door close again, the other guy had walked away. Cas couldn't see very well but he could make out enough details of the person's figure to know who it was, those bow-legs were hard to mistake.

Castiel started walking out; leaning on everything he could until he exited the bathroom. He wandered to the large group of people still gathered and to the reception desk where he knew the teacher was standing. He heard a startled gasp and figured it was because of how he looked. "I wanna go home." He blubbered through freshly wet eyes, he didn't care that his voice cracked again, he just wanted to go home.

* * *

Cas walked up the front steps of his house after being dropped off by one of the chaperones. He'd been cleaned up as much as possible and he'd been taken to the hospital to put his hand in a cast. Cas knew the layout of his house well enough that it didn't matter if he could see, he trudged up the stairs past his mom's home office, she was busy on the phone with someone so she hadn't even noticed he was there. Cas walked into his room and closed the door, his limbs felt so heavy and his eyes hurt from trying to focus on things. He went to his dresser and found his pair of back up glasses, the ones he'd had before he got the new frames. These ones weren't as well condensed so they stuck out a bit further from his face but at least the prescription was the same.

Castiel sat down on his bed and sat there in silence for what felt like hours though when he looked at the time only ten minutes had passed. He looked up at his mantle again, that plate just sitting there all on its own. He stared at it, and stared at it and eventually cried out in a fit of anger and pain. He grabbed the thing and threw it to his floor, smashing it into pieces.

He stood seething at the mess until fresh tears stained his bruised cheeks, "There... now we're the same."


	7. Chapter 7

"AMELIA!" Jimmy stumbled into the house, nearly falling flat onto his face. "Boys! Amelia!" he was nearly shrieking with excitement as he hollered for his family. "Come here! Come here quickly!"

Castiel sighed and stood up from his bed. It'd been two weeks since he'd decided to stop going to school, his mom didn't blame him and his father said some time off would help. He had Michael delivering homework; at least he was keeping up. He'd apologized to Garth and Chuck for bailing but he did notice that they were doing much better without him; bullies didn't target those two like they did Cas. He felt bad for putting them through it at all.

Cas thought about the day at the hospital, when they'd readjusted his hand and put a cast on it the nurse was so kind and had managed to weasel what had happened out of him. He told her everything, bawled his heart out to her and had gotten the kindest hug. At the time he was too upset and self-destructive to really think much on it, now though his mind lingered on it. It was so thoughtful and she was so nice to him, it was enough to steer his mind away from unhealthy alternative stress relievers, drugs, alcohol, and self-mutilation included. He wished he could go back to thank her for it.

Another thing was she kept trying to convince him to go to the police with it, to get those other people arrested. The problem with that would be to admit to more people around this tiny town about what happened, the reasons he was bullied in the first place. Sure, school was school and it was stupid but how could he know if the rest of the town would accept it? What if they all started doing things to not just him but his family as well? He'd rather just let karma take care of them, it was less humiliating that way.

He paused and waited at the top of the stairs to see if his presence was necessary for whatever had his father up and about like a kid at Christmas. "CAS!" It was Michael, "Get your ass down here already!"

Castiel trudged down the stairs, folding his arms over his chest though the cast made it a bit awkward, "What?"

Jimmy beamed excitedly, he was almost bouncing up and down he was so happy. "Guess what we just won?"

Amelia tilted her head curiously along with Castiel who realized that she must be the one he'd gotten it from, "What, dear? What on earth could we have won?" Jimmy handed over a ticket, a lottery ticket that Castiel recognized from every week. His parents loved to play the lottery game; you'll never win if you never try, right? "Oh my word..." She looked up at him without anything else she could possibly say, "James..."

"I know." He beamed, "And I checked it several times, it's a winner."

"So we won like, what, twenty bucks?" Cas asked bitterly, not being able to help his pessimism.

"We'll find out," Jimmy grinned, "Though I doubt it, this is the jackpot winner."

The thing was that the Novak's never played the small lotteries, always the big ones. This time the jackpot was a whopping 490 million dollars, an incredible prize if they were the only ones with the same numbers. Cas sincerely doubted it though whatever money they did receive for their ticket would certainly be a nice addition toward new glasses for him.

Jimmy had already called ahead about his winning numbers and when they got there a large camera crew was already waiting. The family slowly rose out of their rundown vehicle, Castiel stared at all the equipment and excited faces though he knew that a lot of what those people were thinking was probably along the lines of 'why do they deserve that money' or something just as greedy. He glanced at Michael who proudly waved, always looking good in whatever he was wearing. Cas glanced down at his regular plain t-shirt and jeans and frowned again. Figured that cameras would be all over the place when he was beaten, bruised, and with a cast on his arm.

"Congratulations! You are the only one with the right numbers," A man in a nice suit shook Jimmy's hand vigorously, "We were starting to think no one would ever win that jackpot!"

Jimmy smiled, shaking a little, "Thank you- Wait, we're the only ones?"

"Yep, all that money is yours now." The man beamed and pat him on the back, "Everyone smile!" Several cameras flashed, blinding Castiel briefly and he had to blink numerous times to try and focus his vision again.

"Oh my god! Jim!" Amelia squealed excitedly, finally letting herself believe this was really happening and threw her arms around her husband's shoulders in a fit of joy.

Jimmy supported her, a shocked laugh escaping him, "I can't believe it."

Castiel stared in disbelief, Michael's arm falling around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. And though his entire family was nearly screaming with excitement he could only find the ability to stare like a fish. Millions of dollars... They were going to be millionaires! Castiel could hardly believe it; he just couldn't wrap his mind around it. How could something so fortunate happen in his family? While he was still in it, no less? It was baffling.

* * *

"No way." John mused as he watched TV, staring at the footage from a few hours before. "Wow, someone won that huge jackpot, finally."

"Yeah?" Mary walked over, "How many people?"

"Just one family, actually. And they live in town." John pointed, "The Novak's."

"Oh my goodness," Mary covered her mouth, "That's so incredible! I'm happy for them." She looked at the boy she knew Dean had bullied several months back; Castiel was his name, and shook her head when she saw the bruises and cast. "That poor thing." She mentally prayed that it hadn't been Dean who'd done that to him.

"Well he's rich now, nothing to worry about anymore." John shrugged. "Damn, though. I would've liked that money..."

"You rarely even play," Mary scoffed, "I'm the one who buys the tickets once a week, and usually just the cheaper ones."

"Well maybe we should play the big ones." John smiled though the expression he received for his comment told him definitely not. "Alright, alright. Regardless though, damn."

"What?" Dean walked in and looked at the TV, his jaw nearly hitting the floor, "NO WAY!" He ran over and stared at the replayed footage, a camera getting the perfect angle of Castiel's family and the young teen's completely dumbstruck expression. "I can't believe it..."

"I know, in our own town." John shook his head, "Lucky bastards."

Dean looked at the bruises that Cas hadn't even attempted to hide and felt an ugly wrenching in his gut, to think he'd started that... That he was the one who reacted violently first and told Jet and the other guys at school. He knew that Jet wouldn't have done anything if Dean hadn't been so grossed out by that tiny little kiss, but the fact that he'd made such a big deal about it meant it bugged him and therefore, as his best friend, Jet did what he could to put the problem in its place. And Dean had felt so right when he'd pushed Cas away, when they'd chased him out of the change room, because... he wasn't sure why, now.

He hadn't expected to see such a broken mess on the field trip two weeks ago, blood dripping from Cas' head and lips that were parted in the most delicate way, a mangled hand, dark angry bruises forming everywhere... But the worst of it, Dean thought, was the way those eyes, incredibly blue and vivid, just stared at him, right into him. He'd been shaken by that look, he'd never seen Castiel without his glasses and the first time he had it... it was indescribable.

' _He's pretty.'_

' _What?'_

' _Cas, his eyes.'_

Sam was right, Castiel's eyes were... dare he even think it but  _gorgeous_. Broken down, huddled against the sink and yet still able to give a look of 'I know', it didn't matter  _what_ he knew, he just fucking  _knew_  something. It was scary, exhilarating and downright hot, but the look was drowned out in a mess of blood and bruises and every ounce of a broken soul. Dean hated it, that in those five seconds of seeing Castiel that way and getting that look that he'd felt anything at all, why did Cas have to look like that? What had even happened in that bathroom to make him look that way? Dean  was miserable with himself for letting it happen, for letting all those horrible things happen and causing some of them himself. He was pissed that he felt bad for it because his dad said that 'gays were immoral sinners' and his dad was never wrong. Or... never used to be. But mostly, out of all the mixed up feelings he had swarming in him, he was confused. With his feelings, with his mentality on the whole thing, and with the way his heart skipped when he saw Castiel again on the TV. He felt like a monster which was strange for him, at that time he'd felt so right, like he was beyond being wrong and somehow Castiel deserved that. But no, the feeling had ebbed and Dean now stood with his stomach wrenching and twisting his guts around out of order, his mind a wash of regret and a messed up sense of right and wrong.

He wanted to talk to Cas but how could he get anywhere close? Knocking on their front door might help.

* * *

The Novak's sat down to try and figure out what to do with the money they'd just come into, college was a definite response, saving it and putting it into banks and things was another. Michael looked at Castiel for a moment before speaking up, "We should move."

Jimmy looked at him, "You don't like your friends or something?"

"Cas can't even go to school anymore, dad. I think we should move." Michael furrowed his brow, "I can spend my last two months in a different school, it's fine."

"No, Michael you should graduate with your friends." Cas shook his head, "It's fine, I can handle a little bit longer."

They all looked at him then and he felt a little squirmy, probably a result of the bullying from the last year. "Alright, as soon as Michael's graduated we'll move. Anyone know where they'd like to go?"

Cas lifted his hand excitedly, "During summer can we tour Europe? Can we? Can we please?"

Jimmy smiled, "I don't see why not. We'll think about where we'd like to move for a little while before making a decision. Who knows, maybe we'll love Europe."

Castiel beamed and nodded, "That's awesome, I can't wait!"

The doorbell rang and they all glanced in the direction of the entrance. "Seems people are already aware of our new found wealth..." Jimmy muttered as he rubbed the back of his head, "Though I guess the news crews saw to that."

"I got it." Michael smiled and walked over to the door, he leaned out slightly as he opened it, "Hello?"

"Hi... Is Cas here?" Dean shifted his weight a little uncomfortably, not expecting to see the protective older brother standing there. And rightly he very well should have been feeling discomfort because of the way Michael's eyes narrowed, the subtle but low growl in the older teen's throat barely escaping past his exterior of calm.

Michael furrowed his brow and stepped outside, pushing Dean backward he closed the door behind him. "You're the one from the start of all this, aren't you?" Michael's steel blue eyes had a similar effect of scaring Dean though somehow they weren't nearly as intense as Castiel's.

"Yes sir," Dean nodded, not wanting to back down now. "I wanted to apologize to him-"

"You've done enough." Michael snapped, stepping closer and pushing Dean further back, "You're lucky I'm having a good day otherwise I'd share some of his pain with you." He pointed down the street, "Go."

"But-"

" **Now.** "

Dean nodded and walked away, mentally kicking himself for not pushing past Michael. But then again, what did he expect? If someone had been treating Sam the same way he would skin them alive, having a good day or otherwise.

Michael watched his retreating back and snorted proudly out his nose. It was a silly thing but he felt justified in doing it at least once. He went back inside and joined his family at the table again. "Who was it?" Jimmy asked.

"Just some prick looking for Cas, I chased him off." Michael pat Castiel's shoulder who smiled at him gratefully.

"Thank you, Michael." He said softly, unsure if he should feel relieved or terrified that people were coming to their house that late at night for him.

"Well it's the least I can do since I didn't manage to save you from getting those bruises in the first place." Michael ruffled up Castiel's hair, earning him a very unimpressed expression.

* * *

Dean walked home after that, figuring that he'd talk to Castiel at school whenever the teen decided to come back. Two months before summer, Cas had to come back eventually. What Dean wasn't aware of was the fact that Castiel and his family now had the money to hire private tutors for him. Castiel never went back to school that year, Dean never got a chance to talk to him. In fact the next thing he heard about the Novak's was in passing when one of the older students was complaining that Michael was going to be gone all summer and in fact might not even come back. It was a big deal to people who knew him, he was a great at sports and athletics and his friends would sorely miss him.

"What do you mean going away for the summer?" Dean had stopped one of the girls to ask.

"His family's going to Europe for the summer and from what he said they'll be moving somewhere else." She pouted, "It sucks. It's all his dorky brother's fault."

Dean nodded and walked away before saying something his high school life might regret. It wasn't Castiel's fault... It was his. People like him, bigots, closed-minded ass holes... Dean wished he could go back and never say anything about that kiss. Cas wasn't coming back and he'd never get the chance to say he was sorry... But Cas might talk to his friends.

Dean hurried to find Garth and Chuck who were packing up for the day. He clamped a hand on both their shoulders, Chuck jumped a little while Garth spun around and shoved his hand away. "What?" Garth asked defensively.

"I need you to tell Cas something for me." Dean sounded a little out of breath but he didn't care.

"What makes you think I'd ever tell him anything you say?" Garth furrowed his brow, "Listen, Dean. I don't know what kind of evil thing you're planning now but-"

"I want to tell him I'm sorry." Dean interrupted, "Can you tell him that?"

"You're too late." Chuck interjected next, his face scrunched in the same angry look that Garth's was. "You're way too late to apologize to him; the damage is done so just go away."

Dean groaned in frustration, "Please? Just let him know?"

Garth looked away, the cue for Chuck to do the same. "We'll think about it." Garth muttered.

"Thank you." Dean figured that was the best he was going to get. He walked back down the hall and sighed heavily, pissed at himself for letting it go this far.

"Hey man," Jet raised a hand in a short wave. Dean glanced up and cringed when he saw his friend's face.

"Dude."

"I know." Jet ran his fingers along a large cut and bruise on his temple tentatively making sure not to touch it. The dark blue and black colouring had drifted down around part of his eye as well, only making the injury look worse. "I woke him up last night when I knocked over a pile of bottles." He shrugged and raked his fingers through his hair, trying to pull it down over his eye but it was far from being long enough. "What can you do."

"Call the cops for one." Dean frowned, he'd made that argument before and he knew what Jet was about to say next but somehow he still knew he had to say it.

"It's my dad, man." Jet folded his arms over his chest, a sort of way he hugged himself once in a while, behaviour Dean had noted but never mentioned out loud. "Still free room and board, plus I'd rather not end up in some shitty home elsewhere."

Dean shook his head, Jet didn't sound scared but that didn't mean anything, he was the best liar Dean knew. "Stay over at my place tonight maybe."

"Sounds good," Jet smiled and looked Dean over, "You look pretty miserable, what's up?"

"I feel bad." Dean shrugged, that was about as well as he could put it.

"About the whole Cas thing?" Jet's tone of voice was normally quite loud but this time he'd asked quietly, he knew it was something that had been weighing Dean down for over a month.

"Yeah. I mean he didn't deserve all that, you know? I feel like a dick."

Jet nodded slowly and glanced toward the locker that used to belong to Cas at one point, he was quiet for a few moments longer before he replied. "Me too... But nothing we can do about it now. No way anyone's gonna let you near him to apologize, let alone me."

Dean sighed in frustration, "Fuck... What the hell?"

"Let it go." Jet headed down the hall, "Not much else you can do at this point, man."

Dean furrowed his brow, he didn't want to believe that there was nothing else he could do but after the last exam finished and he heard through the grapevine that the Novak's had gone for the summer, their house left empty, he had to accept it.


	8. Chapter 8

The summer after grade 9 had started and Dean found himself completely dumbstruck, he'd started that year off normally. Spent the first part like he always did, barely making decent enough grades to keep his mom and dad off his back and hanging out with his friend Jet. Then the strangest thing happened to him, the biggest nerd, most renowned wall-flower of their class had made it known to Dean that he liked him. And at the time Dean couldn't say his mentality differed much further from his father's when it came to the subject of homosexuality. The year went on and every little deed done to Castiel, every hateful word, Dean had ignored it all. He and Jet had started the hate-tirade but they hadn't gone as far as the rest of the school. But maybe it didn't really matter how far one person went, it was all adding up for Cas.

Summer was painful for Dean, he'd let Castiel slip away without being able to properly apologize. Maybe if he had pushed past Michael that evening? Or if he'd just gone in to help Cas in the bathroom after those other jackasses had their way with him... Dean really had no idea what actually went on at the museum that day, he only saw the aftermath. As far as he knew they'd gone all out. He couldn't do anything to help Cas now, or show him he cared but he could at least get some vengeance for him.

Dean had taken Jet with him to a meeting he'd set up with those guys and their cousin Eddie. Jet was an interesting individual; Dean had to make another note of that during and after their encounter with those jerks. Jet was the first one to say a hateful thing about Castiel, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt the poor nerd, either. Dean was well aware that Jet could be the cruelest kind of homophobic person, and yet when he told Jet why they were confronting these guys Jet had fully agreed to the terms of the fight he was walking into. That kind of behaviour was uncalled for and unwanted, so Dean and Jet taught those asshats a lesson they wouldn't soon forget.

After the fight, all of the other teens splayed out unconscious on the pavement of an alley Dean had chosen, they'd covered each other's backs and came out mostly unscathed. Jet rolled his shoulders a bit and started walking away, at least until he noticed Dean hadn't followed. Jet paused and looked at him, "You okay? They hurt you?"

Dean shook his head but he didn't know what to say next, Jet had always been there for him and he knew pretty much everything there was to know about Jet, so why didn't he return that favour? The trust? Sure Jet was scary and unpredictable even for Dean, but hiding was so much worse. So he came clean to his best friend. "I can't hide it from you, Jet." Dean sighed and looked up into the slowly softening brown eyes he'd come to know so well, "I like Cas."

Dean had expected the worst kind of reaction, a beating, belittling, and the loss of his best friend. Instead after a brief pause, Jet placed a firm hand on his trembling shoulder and smiled. "That took a lot of guts." he said gently, "I'm... very glad that you know you can tell me anything, Dean. You trust me that much, and... I'll get over this stupid intolerance of it for you. Not that it'll be instant though." It was so easy, simple and just like that Jet let go of it. Was he just hateful for the sake of it or would he just drop anything if it clashed with his image of Dean?

Regardless Dean stared at his friend completely dumbfounded. "You mean it?" He blinked a few times to focus a little better. "Not gonna hit me or anything?"

"You thought I'd hit you?" Jet laughed, "I guess if you were someone else maybe, and if you tried to kiss me. But seriously dude, no kissing me."

"I didn't plan on it. I told you, I like Cas." Dean sighed and looked up at the clouds as if searching for a passenger plane. "I wonder if he'll come back..."

Jet stood next to him in silence and then, in the same dreamy tone Dean had used, spoke up, "Yeah... probably not."

Dean smacked him, "Douche."

Jet laughed and started walking, "Whatever, man. These doorknobs are down for the count, let's go home and see if your mom made anything for lunch."

Dean nodded and followed, trotting along behind to catch up to his long-legged friend.

"Where did this even come from?" Jet asked after a few blocks.

"Well..." Dean wasn't sure how to explain it really. He shrugged, "I realized I'd been an awful person to Cas, I wanted to apologize to him."

"Yeah but you kind of... flipped a switch, know what I'm saying?" Jet glanced at him briefly, an eyebrow raised.

"Flipped a switch how?" Dean shot a glance back.

"I mean you hated him, well mostly anyway. You were seriously against this kind of thing three months ago so I'm wondering what's up." Jet shrugged, "That's all. Just want to know if you have an idea where it started."

"The museum." Dean said decidedly, remembering the look in Castiel's eyes clearly.

Jet nodded, "Right... you mean when you walked into the bathroom? Or what?"

"Yeah, the way he looked at me was... different. I hadn't seen anything like that before." Dean bit the inside of his cheek unconsciously, a small smile coming to his face.

"Dude, he was beaten pretty badly, why are you smiling? I thought you felt bad about it."

"I do feel bad! That's not why I'm- I'm the one who caused it in the first place, right? I mean I reacted to the kiss, I got you to force him out of the change room, and I threw things at him a few times with the other guys. If I hadn't reacted to that little kiss I wouldn't feel so rotten." Dean furrowed his brow frustratedly. "I wasn't smiling..."

"Right... Well your mom taught you to feel bad about the mean things you do so I know where that's coming from. But the rest of it I don't get." Jet shook his head, "Like I said, a switch flipped."

"Whatever, let's just get home." Dean shrugged, "There's not much to get. I just... like him."

"Just one more thing," Jet grabbed his arm for emphasis and to get Dean to actually look at him, "You get that you didn't actually  _cause_  what happened at the museum, right? I mean yes you reacted to a kiss which domino-effected this whole thing but you didn't actually call those guys and tell them to get their cousin out here and shit. Don't do that 'I did something horrible' thing you do and go a little weird in the head, alright?"

Dean paused and nodded after staring at Jet for a few seconds, "Yeah... Yeah I know I didn't actually do it myself I just feel responsible for it... You think this is a 'I like Cas' thing?"

"I'm thinking it's a guilt thing combined with hormones." Jet said with a smirk.

Dean ran his hand down his face and shook his head, "I don't know... I'm pretty sure I like him."

"This went from definitely yes to pretty sure, dude. I think you should stop thinking about it for a while and see where it goes." Jet let go of him and continued their walk back to the Winchester residence.

"Maybe... You think he's thinking about it?"

"Does that sound like 'not thinking about him' to you?" Jet scolded.

"Right..."

* * *

The plane ride had been somewhat soothing for most of the Novak family except for Castiel. He sat staring out the window until his bladder felt like it'd burst. He didn't want to have to go use the plane's washroom; they sort of freaked him out a little bit. But his bowls felt like they would burst so he hurried to the first class restroom available to him.

For the most part he was comfortable with the space, it was nicer than he had expected. He'd heard stories and had seen movies with coach bathrooms and honestly he wasn't expecting first class to be so much better. However this was also the first time he noticed he was in a strange bathroom outside of his home since the museum incident. He hadn't left the house since then; he'd stayed firmly and happily wrapped up in a blanket while playing Skyrim. A mind-numbing process for which he was grateful, he had tried to bury anything related to that day away in his brain.

Right now, despite how comforting his family was, how protective and caring Michael had become, and how nice that nurse had been, Cas couldn't help but feel dread rising in him. His legs shook a little as he recalled the frightening experience with incredible clarity. Cas felt his hands shake uncontrollably, luckily for him it was after he'd relieved himself. He fumbled and put himself away properly, zipping up his fly and stumbling backward. He caught himself on the counter, his elbow smacking the granite painfully, his fingers gripping the sides of it. His gaze snapped up into the mirror, he could see the fear in his eyes blown even larger thanks to his glasses, new ones his parents had bought him. He stared at himself until his muscles calmed down and his breathing went back to normal. He exhaled slowly until the feeling of fear and disgust washed off of him enough to let him calm himself down.

What was that? He shook his head and washed his hands, the injured one had healed enough to remove the cast before heading into Europe. He stared down at the running water for a moment, his vision clear and yet feeling sort of fuzzy. What  _was_  that? He hadn't been that scared since the incident, he was fine, so why?

Cas decided to ignore it, push it down further until he'd have to dig and dig hard to reach it. He did what he could to cover up the ugly feelings but they didn't go as deep as he'd hoped, he kept thinking back to it, back to that entire year. He knew that getting away from it would be good for him, would be something he really needed, so then why? He missed having the support of his friends, even though now that the torture would be gone he wouldn't need support during it. He glanced around at the bathroom again and hurried out of it, he hated public spaces. Granted that one was closed off when he was the only one in it but it was still one meant for several other people who were also on that plane. He sat down in his seat again and closed his eyes, trying to ignore his shaking limbs.

"Cas, sweetheart?" Amelia took his hand and squeezed it gently, "You don't look well."

Castiel opened his eyes again and looked at her, "I..." he swallowed and shook his head, "Nothing, I'm okay mom."

She nodded slowly, "If you say so."

The plane landed and Castiel walked out with his family when they were finally permitted. He inhaled slowly, calmly, trying to keep himself in check. He didn't trust anyone around him, he realized. He didn't know why but he just couldn't bring himself to trust any of them, they could all be out to hurt him, one big joke that his class could laugh at.

As Cas stared with big, distrusting eyes, completely focused in that task, Michael grabbed his arm to get his attention. Castiel jumped and let out a sharp yelp as his head snapped toward Michael who looked genuinely shocked. "You scared me." Cas recovered quickly and brushed his arm a little, "What?"

"You're staring at everyone like they're going to kidnap you, calm down Cas." Michael tried to reassure him with a smile though his expression quickly dropped as something dawned on him, "Is this about the museum? Those bullies?"

"No!" Cas shouted a little louder than he'd originally anticipated. "Not at all," he quickly quieted himself. "It's been two months, Michael. I don't think that's it even if there was something bugging me."

"Which there is." Michael added with a raised brow, "Listen, Cas. I don't know what it is and I'm sure you won't tell me, but you should tell somebody."

Cas looked away and grabbed his luggage as it came by, "There isn't anything, okay?"

"Right." Michael grabbed his and shrugged, "Not like you've been viciously and cruelly assaulted for about 7 months straight, beaten and humiliated to no end-"

"Stop!" Cas shoved him with enough force to actually move him. "Okay? Please..."

"Castiel," Jimmy placed a hand on the teen's shoulder, "It's okay if something's bothering you, you can tell us."

Cas shook his head though tears still stung his eyes, "It... it can't be the thing at the museum, it's been too long for that to be it."

"That's not true, Cas." Amelia hugged him gently, "You never dealt with it or talked about it very much, you buried it and now it's coming back up. It's okay, you can talk to us or we can get someone else to help you."

Cas shook his head though really that was the last thing he wanted to refuse. "I don't know..." he sobbed lightly, "I don't know what I should do..."

Jimmy pet Castiel's hair gently, "Well how about we stay in a hotel for a little while, you can clear your head and we'll go from there."

Castiel nodded, "Okay, thank you." He wrapped his arms around his mom and buried his face against her neck. "Thank you."

Michael put his hand on Jimmy's, still on Cas' head, and ruffled the teen's hair, "Besides, I think England was a good choice for a first stop." He looked at his dad who nodded firmly.

* * *

Dean took a deep breath and walked into the living room where his dad was watching a game of some kind, Dean hadn't really bothered to look. Jet had gone home a few hours ago, to a family situation that Dean didn't agree with. Why that guy did nothing about it made no sense to him, why didn't Jet fight back? Well... Okay, Jet fought back, he always fought back. But why wouldn't he leave? Just tell the police and go somewhere else, away from it. Of course Jet always said no, he's my dad.

Dean understood that feeling better than anyone, his dad was the one man he looked up to and maybe the one person who could probably help him sort these feelings out. Granted mentioning it to John was probably a terrible idea all on its own but Dean didn't know who else to ask about it. He was only 14; he hardly understood his own body let alone his mind. And even though Jet had told him to not think about it, Dean couldn't help but dwell on the thought of Castiel, that broken expression, so intense and the strongest thing Dean had seen in most of his life. Why did he love thinking of Castiel that way? Angry, vicious, _dangerous_. It didn't make sense, Cas wasn't any of those things, was he? Castiel was a quiet little wall-flower, he didn't have an ounce of spice in him. Dean shook his head and stepped closer to the couch.

"Dad?" Dean asked tentatively, taking John's brief nod toward him as a 'go on' sort of gesture. "I wanted to ask you something... Can we talk for a second?"

John turned the TV off and patted the couch beside him, "Come sit, boy." He smiled at his son warmly, not used to being asked questions by Dean anymore.

Dean hesitated but sat down, "First... how are you and mom doing?"

John chuckled, "We fight all the time, Dean. We're fine." He watched the unsettled expression on Dean's face and sighed, "Is this about that whole homosexual subject?"

"Sort of." Dean shifted uncomfortably and exhaled slowly again, "I was wondering if it's possible to suddenly like someone after despising them for a long time."

"Sometimes." John nodded, "Sometimes all it takes is a small thing and you realize that your anger and rage toward this person isn't actually hate but an attraction, you realize your feelings were misunderstood the whole time." He chose his words carefully, knowing that this was one of those moments in life that Dean may or may not base his future behaviour on. John had to be careful.

"You sound like you know a lot about it." Dean smiled a bit, comforted by John's honest answer.

"Yeah," John shook his head, "Mary and I used to fight before we were together, there was a lot of tension between us. I couldn't stop thinking about her, every night I'd go to sleep and see her face and I'd thought it was because she was annoying and that obviously I disliked her. Well one day I noticed her with someone I recognized from the news, she was being that ditzy friendly hippie as always, completely oblivious to the fact that this guy was a kidnapper, an escaped murderer from the prison a town over."

"What'd you do?" Dean knew that it had to have ended well, obviously, but he still liked a good story.

"I lost it," John shrugged, "Things were easier back then, you got away with more." He smiled and laughed again, "After I beat the hell out of that guy, the whole while she beat on me with her purse mind you, I told her who he was and she just stared at me in a brand new way. I realized then that hate wasn't what I'd been feeling at all. Funny how we can mix those things up."

"That's kind of intense..." Dean smiled, "You're pretty badass, dad."

"Heh, I know." John cleared his throat and sat upright little bit, "So then why are you asking?"

"...I've been going by what you taught me, that homosexuals are wrong and I've been very... cruel to one of them for a few months now." Dean lowered his gaze to his hands, "You know about the flagpole thing. After that I apologized, I mean for real when it was just me and him talking because I felt rotten about doing that to him at all. He kissed my cheek after that."

John nodded when Dean looked back up; his dad being quiet was either good or bad, but never neutral. Dean couldn't place this silence so he continued, "I freaked out, told Jet about it and it spread through the school. He's been picked on, bullied, harassed... And two months before school ended and we went on that field trip, he was beaten very badly, bruised, bleeding, broken bones and glasses... I walked into the bathroom to use it and when I opened the door he was the only one in there but in such bad shape. He just looked at me, didn't say anything, just looked. I left right after that..." He shook his head, "I... I feel awful, dad. I feel like I owe him an apology for being so horrible to him, for letting those things happen because of one tiny kiss. But I didn't care one way or the other before I saw him there..."

"And you think it's something to do with your feelings toward him?" John asked.

"I don't know, I mean I didn't hate him before really, I just thought he was disgusting and his actions were wrong. I didn't think about him before bed ever, not until after that whole thing... I have nightmares about him..." Dean shook his head, "I don't understand what's going on with me, dad."

John nodded slowly, "Alright, I think I understand what's going on here. You feel guilty. Your conscience has kicked in and that's why you think of him a lot, you haven't had the opportunity to make any of it right yet. But that can't be it, what else is there that you're not telling me?"

Dean shifted again, he'd never been good at keeping secrets or hiding things, it just wasn't in his nature. "I've been having... dreams too... about him..." he muttered.

"Sexual dreams?" John ventured to ask, determined to help his son instead of shut him down. A long discussion with Mary about parenting helped with that.

Dean was quiet for a bit but he nodded, "Yeah... graphic ones. I keep... I keep hurting him. And in my dream I really enjoy it, but I don't want to enjoy that and I..." He didn't know where he was going with that so he just trailed off.

John blinked a few times and shook his head, now he had to come up with a reason for _that_. Well he had an idea. "I think you're mixing hormones in with your guilt of what happened, you feel responsible for him being hurt and at the same time you're in the awful throws of puberty. I don't think you should worry about it, Dean. It'll go away on its own."

Dean sighed, "You think so?"

John smiled, "Pretty sure, yeah." He pat Dean's shoulder comfortingly. "And if I'm wrong then you're a sadist."

Dean's face scrunched up, "What's that?"

"Look it up if you don't know." John turned the TV back on.

Dean shoved him, "Jerk."

"That's Mister Jerk to you." John chuckled.

Dean smiled and looked at the screen, enjoying the last bits of the football game that had been on earlier. If his dad wasn't concerned then it was probably nothing. After all, John and Jet had both given him the same verdict; it was probably just hormones and his guilt mixing. Either he'd get over the guilt at some point or his hormones would be satiated, regardless of which one came first he knew that at least he'd be okay. Though the fact that he woke up sexually frustrated was a bit annoying, thinking about Cas that way in dreams was one thing but it translating to the waking world was another.


	9. Chapter 9

Castiel took his time thinking, relaxing and trying to let himself get over the trauma on his own. It wasn't so easy, of course it was damn near impossible for him to just get over it. He decided to try and break down the scenario in his head, hopefully he'd let himself do that much. Lying on his bed he stared up at the ceiling, gently nudging his mind back toward the day of the field trip. He'd been so excited about the trip, about the museum and the wax figures and displays. He'd idiotically trusted someone who out of the blue started to like him, randomly, in a open area with many other people.

' _Okay, let's start there...'_  He thought with a deep breath.  _'He approached me and was all over me in a public place. He'd inexplicably felt some kind of attraction to me without being able to explain it, it actually made no sense from the get go but I didn't realize it.'_  He ran a hand through his slicked down hair and sighed, "So... I blindly trusted a stranger without even considering the whole situation. That's step one of where it went wrong. If I'd just said no and went through the museum tour with everyone else it wouldn't have happened."

He smiled a little, not so hard so far. He went to the bathroom with this guy, Eddie, and gave him what he'd wanted.  _'The blow job was entirely consensual on both of our parts,'_ he reminded himself and managed to calm a twinge of panic.  _'It's what happened afterward that was the bad part; the blow job was actually kind of nice.'_  He smiled again, remembering the feel of it. He'd gained a little bit of knowledge on the subject at least.  _'Now, the hard part. Let's break down what happened after. I was dragged out and beaten horribly.'_  He thought through that last bit quickly, like removing a band-aid. He tried to not let any vivid memories follow though he did recall the hand gripping his hair. Cas shuddered and took another slow, relaxed breath.

What he was doing was something his mom suggested he try, work through the problem mentally while he was alone. If something really bugged him just stop there and take a calming breath to ease his nerves and try to figure out why that particular thought agitated him so much.

Cas knew that that was the part that bothered him, he was just scared to try and break it apart and figure out why. Obviously the pain from being beaten was bad but he'd taken a beating before during the year as well, several in fact. Why did this one bother him so much? Maybe it was just the last straw, his mind having taken enough abuse and just let this last situation get to him... Though really it was probably the fact that he had trusted someone so easily and they had hurt him, used him and threw him away. He'd been stupid and careless and that's why he'd been in that situation in the first place. It wasn't his fault, he knew that, but the fact that he could let something like that happen to himself at all scared him.

He sat up and moved over to where his things were packed and shifted some things around until he found the packaged pieces of a broken plate. A small smile came to his lips as he angled the container to let the pieces slide around. "I'll put you back together yet." He whispered.

"What's that?" Michael asked as he trotted into the hotel room, dripping from playing in the pool downstairs.

"A plate." Cas looked up for a second before turning his gaze back to the container, "It's a symbol of me..."

Michael looked down at the pieces the plate was in and was silent for a little while. "So... you made friends with a plate...?"

Cas didn't say anything to that, stupid Michael.

"Hey I get it," Michael sat down next to him, something Cas didn't wholly appreciate considering his brother was soggy and dripping. "If that kind of thing helps you then it helps you." He smiled and ruffled Cas' hair again, a gesture Cas found to be somewhat ridiculous and very annoying since it always messed up his hair style. "This plate is like your Wilson."

"My what?" Castiel looked at Michael with a furrowed brow.

"Wilson, like the volley ball from that one movie." Michael paused, "What was it called again?"

"Cast Away," Cas shook his head, "Starring Tom Hanks. Are you serious? This is not a 'Wilson' volley ball!"

"Whatever, I'm calling it Wilson." Michael grinned and headed to the bathroom, his original plan when he'd walked to their room.

Castiel laughed and looked down at the plate again, "Fine."

* * *

Castiel had decided to go out and find some super glue, something that he could use to put 'Wilson' back together again. After that stupid conversation with Michael he was calling his symbol of self-strength Wilson as well, and he'd decided that since he was starting to feel better he should get some glue. Putting Wilson back together piece by piece every time he felt a little better about himself sounded like a good, relaxing hobby to start.

As Cas walked around the shopping area in the town they'd settled in he found that maybe going without his parents wasn't such a smart idea. He'd brought the map at least, and some money though he wasn't sure how much would be too much to carry on him.

"Wow."

Castiel heard a voice from a nearby outdoor cafe and had to turn his head to look. There was a young man, someone older than him but probably only by a year or two. He was looking right at Cas, a sort of 'are you kidding me?' kind of look on his face. "What?" Castiel asked finally after discerning that it was indeed him this stranger was staring at.

"You, are you serious?" The guy walked over with a bit of a laugh, a light-hearted cheery kind of sound. "Are you going for the 'I'm a huge American nerd' look on purpose?"

Cas stepped away as the guy got closer, he wasn't a fan of strangers especially ones that took sudden interest in him. "Back off, okay? I'm just trying to find my way around; I don't need any trouble from you."

"Balthazar," The guy said and Cas had to wonder if he was speaking another language.

"What?"

"My name is Balthazar."

Castiel looked down at the extended hand this Balthazar was offering him to take and gripped his map a little tighter, "Castiel. What do you want, Balthazar?"

"Just to give you a hand, is all." Balthazar lifted both of his hands in a surrendering motion, "Your glasses, peeled back hair and tucked in button-up shirt are kind of... Unappealing."

"Well thank you for that but I don't want any help from you." Cas spat, clearly offended by the comments. "Now if you'll excuse me." He started walking around the English guy, giving the other teen a large amount of space as he did so.

Balthazar sighed and shrugged, "Okay, just figured I'd offer." He glanced after Cas and watched the way the skittish American glanced back at him, as if he were going to do something completely and utterly distasteful. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?" He called after Castiel.

"I'm not looking at you like anything." Cas shouted back without looking that time, he wasn't sure he wanted to talk to some stranger like this much longer, he felt antsy and nervous.

Balthazar furrowed his brow and followed Castiel at a slight distance, watching the way the tourist turned the map up and around and looking pretty much lost. "Hey," He placed a hand on Cas' shoulder who promptly stepped away and, if Balthazar saw it right, basically cowered, map clutched to his chest for dear life.

"Back off!" Cas shouted, his voice cracking and sounding completely panicked. "Don't touch me!"

Balthazar lifted his hands, "Whoa, okay." He looked at the biggest, most frightened eyes he'd ever seen and a little twinge of pain struck his chest. "It's okay, I just want to help you out, where are you trying to get to?"

Cas stared at him and hesitantly relaxed his limbs, "I need super glue..."

Balthazar smiled, "Then, my dear Castiel, let me show you where to find some." He gave a low bow, his posture hinting at how he'd been brought up. This guy was a gentleman, or at least the makings of one. "May I?" Balthazar stuck his hand out for Cas' and the frightened teen shook his head quickly. "Alright then, may I ask you a question?"

"You can ask." Castiel answered as they started walking, keeping a close eye on this guy.

"Who hurt you?" Balthazar asked softly, "You can barely be 15 at most, why are you so afraid?"

Cas' fingers curled around the map and he shook his head again, "I'm 14, and... I guess a lot of people."

"Either it was or it wasn't." Balthazar smiled genuinely, "So did a lot of people hurt you or just one?"

"A lot of people were involved..." Cas cleared his throat to stop the shaking and fight back any tears threatening his eyes, "It's none of your business, really."

"Of course." Balthazar chuckled, "Regardless, I think you need to be shown a good time."

Cas stepped away, "Pervert!"

"Not like that, I mean you need to smile more, I'm sure it's beautiful."

"Why are you doing this?" Castiel raised an eyebrow at him, "You don't have anything to gain from it, so why?"

"I need a reason to want to help someone?" Balthazar looked at him, "If that's the case I don't think I want to live on this planet anymore."

"Seriously, Balthazar." Castiel frowned and the expression only made Balthazar's smile widen.

"Seriously, Cas." He laughed lightly, "I think you could really have something, I want to see it when it comes out." Castiel's confused expression only served as a catalyst for Balthazar's good mood. "Forgive me, you remind me of a book I once read."

"Like what?" Cas was a little curious but not enough to get invested in this man.

"Honestly? The Ugly Duckling."

Cas frowned, "Wow, thanks that really helps the self-esteem."

"No, see I can see the swan you'll be and I'm fascinated that you haven't yet." Balthazar sounded excited, Cas couldn't understand what was up with this guy, or maybe all English people were like that? He wasn't really sure.

Though of course the question did dawn on him, what on earth did this guy see in him? And what did he plan to do to 'drag it out'? Cas couldn't say he wasn't curious, intrigued by it. What if he could be the thing he'd always imagined himself as? A performer, a charismatic individual who could do anything he wanted because he had the nerve to pull it off. A small reminder in his mind was enough to allow Balthazar to walk along with him, that little glimmer of spotlight that he'd hoped for so often, that he imagined. It was enough to let Balthazar follow him back to the hotel and it was enough to see Balthazar everyday they were in England.

* * *

Grade 10 came and went and Dean found himself slowly getting over the strange thoughts that had plagued him in grade 9. The dreams had stopped almost altogether and were swarmed with everything else that being a young, teenage guy would think about. He found that while he still liked girls a great deal, guys weren't off his radar. He would catch himself checking someone out briefly and wondered if it had even been Castiel at all that had caught his interest, maybe really was just hormones.

He'd decided that his dad and Jet had been right and stopped worrying about it which basically wiped it from his mind entirely. Not that it made him feel better, the weird parts of the dreams stopped but once in a while he still saw that face, that beaten and broken face of a boy he'd basically tortured himself. Dean did his best to push that from his head and mostly, with everything else life had been giving him with puberty and school, he was mostly successful. He went after who he wanted though he never stayed in one relationship for very long, something just didn't do it for him each time he tried.

Dean had noticed that his more open-minded state was cause for a few more fights between John and Mary, the heated arguments that they went through because of him, because of each other and a belief system that didn't wholly make sense anymore to their family. Several times one of them had walked out and several times Dean had to console Sam, telling him that everything would be fine though he wasn't ever really sure. And yet, while they were worried each time, they found that John and Mary usually worked it out and solved the issue. John, though it was being forced on him slowly, was becoming more and more tolerant of it. At least now Dean knew it stood in the general vicinity of 'I won't disown or kill you, but I'm not giving my blessings' area with his dad. Which was better than it used to be so Dean wasn't going to complain about it.

Regardless, though, he was bitter about the thought that he might not get the car now.

Dean quickly became one of the most sought after guys in school and though he enjoyed the attention he did his best not to lose himself in it. He remembered what he'd done to Castiel and how he felt as a person after the ordeal, it was a pretty difficult thing to admit to himself though. To say that he'd been that cruel, that hateful toward another person wasn't something he wanted to ever do but at least he could say he'd gotten past it.

Of course, just because he was more open minded and was slowly pushing Jet in the same direction, didn't mean the rest of the school felt the same way. Dean didn't out himself as being bisexual and asked Jet to keep it quiet as well, of course his friend made a face that Dean would even assume that'd be an issue. But still, there were several times the two of them felt awkward around one another, since Jet started trying to get over the homophobic part of his brain. They'd sat in odd silence until one of them did something to break the tension. Dean hadn't had to fight Jet in a long time and he'd rather not ever have to again. Granted Jet was doing pretty well considering the small town upbringing, Dean had to give him that much.

John had started to notice Dean's tendencies, the little things that hinted at Dean being something other than perfectly straight. After that he started to do things with Dean, father-son things which entailed a lot of hard work and discipline. He included Sam when his other son wanted to join in and added a bit of his military tastes to things, he knew tricks to help with training people so why not use them? He didn't let up either. Everyday there was something new, every other day it was a strenuous, taxing activity on the body so he at least wouldn't wear his kids down. Overall he'd decided that if he couldn't have straight boys he'd at least have strong ones, and if they'd ever end up with another man they'd at least be the dominant ones. He didn't want to think about it that much but at least he could still find a way to be proud of them if it came down to that.

Needless to say Dean's social life dwindled quite a bit when John started his little tirade of epic proportions. He was allowed out on weekends when he was done his chores and homework though not very late. At first Jet would rather hang out after school and on weekends, and since Dean wasn't always available to do so he'd go and do it with other people. However that didn't last very long, after the first week Jet showed up with Dean to John's training sessions and took part like he was meant to be there the entire time.

Mary would go out and give them snacks or call them in for dinner, all the while appreciating that John was putting in the effort. She had under estimated him, it seemed. It was nice to see all the boys doing something together for once, and something productive too. They'd built a shed to hold all the extra tools in the garage, cleaned out said garage and had done a bunch of work on the house like re-shingling the roof, giving it a fresh coat of paint, painting the fence, and they'd even scrubbed most of the oil stains off their drive way. Mary had to admit, she was very impressed with her husband. When he got upset most of the time his answer to it was something along the lines of 'whatever' and he'd leave it at that. However enough pushing from her, a few good points in an argument and he was working his butt off to fix his problem, or if not fix it then make something out of it.

And even though most of the family thought this little spurt of John's was going to end any day, it didn't. He didn't let up, not unless it was a holiday or someone was legitimately sick. Dean and Jet ended up training and working with John every day, even leading up to the start of grade 12.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moment we've been waiting for has arrived! *evil laughter**cough*choke**continues laughing*

Grade twelve. Finally. Dean ran a hand up through his hair to keep the spikes upright. Tomorrow was the first day of his grade twelve year, his last year of high school and then he was free to do whatever he wanted. Not that he knew exactly what he wanted but he was working it out. He adjusted the collar of his leather jacket, his dad's leather jacket, and strolled out of his room and to the front door. "I'm gonna run to the store for some stuff!" He hollered to the rest of the house though he waited for a second, listening to the hurried steps of his brother.

"Wait! Wait I'm coming with!" Sam skidded to a stop next to him, throwing on his shoes. Sam had grown a lot in the last year and yet was still pretty small. He'd taken part in as many of John's training things as he could though Sam wasn't always up for listening to what his dad wanted, the little brat was growing more and more independent as time went on. Though normally John had things planned for them he had decided to give them the day off, it was the day before school, after all. They needed to be ready, well rested... Though mostly it was because Mary insisted they take a day.

"Figured you would," Dean grinned and headed out the door, "Come on Sammy!"

Sam dashed to the Impala's passenger door and hopped in before Dean could even close his, "What're you getting?" Sam asked as he belted himself in.

"Snacks and stuff for tonight, Jet's coming down to watch movies later." Dean shrugged as he started the car up and smiled, loving the sound of her engine. "Why'd you want to come?"

"I figured that's what you were getting," Sam smirked, "I wanted to get some for myself, too."

"I'm not buying it for you."

"I've got my own money from the summer, Dean." Sam said matter-of-factly, an annoying tone that Dean hated. That 'I can do it myself' attitude that Sam had was so difficult to work with sometimes.

"Alright, so long as you know then." Dean shrugged and pulled up to the nearest convenience store. Sam went in first, Dean took the time to check the Impala's tires and everything else, he promised his dad that he'd take care of her every time he drove her and this short trip should be no different. He still couldn't believe the man had given her to him. John had been so against everything Dean was starting to get into, though slowly John came to realize that no matter who Dean wanted to bring to bed, Dean was still his son. Dean was always the same guy when he woke up as when he went to bed and why should it matter so much? Granted John still didn't ever want to know who Dean was dating, ever, so he could at least keep that part a secret from himself. Regardless, Dean was very happy with how things were going, John had at least accepted  _him_ , maybe whoever he brought home in the future would have some difficulties but for now his dad accepted him and that was good enough.

Just then a cherry red mustang pulled up next to him, parked perfectly in the stall over. Loud dance music was cut as soon as the engine was and the driver's door opened, Dean couldn't help but look to see what kind of douche listened to that music.

Dean felt his mouth go dry as he watched the most beautiful face he'd ever seen emerge from the car; sunglasses were tipped down briefly as the guy winked bright blue eyes at him before strolling into the store. Dean swallowed and did a double take, his eyes shifting down to one hell of a fine ass wrapped perfectly in a set of dark jeans, his shirt riding up briefly to show off a little skin on his lower back and possibly even a tattoo. Dean cleared his throat and walked in after the stranger, an odd word in itself in a small town. He knew most of the guys in town, especially the ones his age. Who was  _this_  guy?

He couldn't help but look at the new comer again, watching the way he squatted down to inspect the store's magazine selection, the way his jeans clung to his thighs like a second layer of skin. A quick glance told him that yep, there was definitely a tattoo on the guy's lower back though he couldn't make out what it was without being too obvious. Dean decidedly gave and walked to the snack aisle and found Sam deciding between a rather large lollipop or a chocolate bar. Dean's grin couldn't have been wider to see Sam's choices, "If you're trying to please that guy, I'd go with the lollipop."

Sam's face flushed and he dropped the chocolate bar, "Shut up, Dean." He looked around to make sure no one had heard that, "I'm not even sure if he swings that way..."

"Well, never know until you try." Dean shrugged and smiled down at Sam, "Never hurts, you know."

The stranger let out a laugh, a beautiful sound though a little bitter. Dean looked up to find the guy was in the same aisle, his sunglasses folded down and hooked into the front of his undershirt, a tightly fitting thing that defined his shape nicely. Slender but toned, Dean could see the definition of the guy's hips and part of him just wanted to touch them.

"Something funny?" Dean asked after regaining his mental-self from ogling this guy.

"Yeah, it's really funny to hear you of all people saying that." Those blue eyes shifted and stared at him and Dean could swear he felt something in him get pierced right through.

"Cas?" Sam beamed, "No way! You look amazing!"

' _Cas?'_  Dean thought as the stranger smiled down at Sam.

"Hey, Sam. Nice to see you again." He ran a hand through perfectly mussy dark hair, "And thanks, that's really sweet of you." He sashayed past Dean and leaned to kiss Sam on the cheek, earning a deep blush from the younger Winchester and a rush of jealousy from the older one.

Dean turned to stare at the gorgeous beast that was Castiel, the last time he remembered seeing him was on TV, bruised and injured. A scrawny, dorky little thing.  _This_  was Castiel? No way. No freaking way something like that could turn into something like this. "Hi... Cas." Dean said simply, dumbstruck and at a loss for words.

Castiel gave him a friendly smile though Dean could tell there was absolutely no love there, just a social thing to be nice in public. "Hi." Cas said curtly though he still sounded sweet, and yet there was a rumble in his voice.

"You sound different." Was all Dean managed to say, still at a loss for words. He felt pretty stupid after it came out.

Cas raised an eyebrow but nodded, "Yeah, that's what puberty does, big boy." He pat Dean on the shoulder as he passed by again, a bag of chips in his hand as well as a fashion magazine tucked under his arm. "See you later, Sam." He called back over his shoulder and by the gods what an ass; Dean just couldn't stop staring at it.

"Bye, Cas! Glad you came back." Sam smiled and glanced up at Dean's completely awestruck expression, "Maybe he'd like to know you like guys now?" He asked.

Dean shook his head, "No, I doubt he wants to know anything about me." He grabbed a few things and followed Cas to the counter, listening to the gravelly tone he'd picked up and staring at the obvious and perfect stubble grown on the most adorable cheeks. He remembered when Castiel's face was sunken with wide cheekbones, not enough meat on him to fill them out. He filled them out now, though. Damn, did he ever. And those full lips, the ones he remembered looked a little strange on such a tiny person, were downright kissable now. He wondered how many guy's Castiel had been with by now, how many other people had treated him right where so many had treated him wrong.

The timing was perfect, they ended up walking to their cars at the same time and Dean got at least one more good look at Castiel's backside before going home. "Dean," Cas sounded as sweet as honey as he leaned on the roof of his car, a smile on his lips as he slowly lifted the sunglasses back over his eyes, "Next time just take a picture, it'd be more subtle than staring."

Dean stood like a deer caught in the headlights and couldn't even stutter a response.

Castiel gave a little wave of his fingers and hopped into his car, "Later, baby." He called before starting his car and likewise resuming the music. Dean recognized it to be one of those songs from the Trespassing album by Adam Lambert, Sam had gotten into the music at one point.

"Pop that lock, not bad." Sam nodded his head to the song as Castiel drove away, "Suits him."

Dean ran a hand down his face, "I can't believe it..."

"No kidding," Sam laughed, "He looks good."

"Good!" Dean exclaimed, "He's better than good, he's gorgeous!" Dean looked himself over and made a mental note to thank his dad for forcing him to work labour jobs for so long. He was built really well and always had a handsome face but none of that mattered with Castiel, Cas would see him for what he had been in grade 9.

"It's nice to know that a few years can make that much of a difference." Sam poked Dean's shoulder playfully, "I'm gonna be taller than you."

Dean scoffed, "As much as people can change in a few years I still don't think that'll ever happen, short stuff."

Sam stuck his tongue out but buckled up. "Well let's go home, should be an interesting day tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Dean muttered, driving back to their house though his mind continually drifted back to those blue eyes and that beautiful smile. Even if it had been sarcastic and angry with him, that had still been the only smile he'd ever seen that made him stop and stare.

Later that evening he dropped back on the couch with Jet, his long standing friend since middle school. Some horror movie had been put in though Dean still couldn't get Castiel out of his mind, so he decided to bring it up. "Novak's are back." He said as the opening sequences of the movie started.

"You don't say?" Jet smirked, "Wonder if Cas is coming back to school."

"Probably," Dean tried to sound casual about it though he was really, really hoping that Cas did go back to school with them. "I saw Cas at the convenience store earlier today, actually." He glanced at his friend's face and got the 'go on' vibe, "...He's hot." Was all Dean could say after the long stare they exchanged.

"What kind of hot?" Jet raised an eyebrow, "Like your kind of hot or my kind?"

"Dude, since you're straight you should just assume my kind if I'm the one who said it." Dean smacked Jet's shoulder, "Dumb ass."

"Hey, I had to ask." Jet chuckled, "Though honestly I still can't believe your dad let you get away with it."

"Well when faced with 'accept our son's decision or say goodbye to your family' from my mom, he got over it pretty quick. Though I'm sure mom saying that only gave him the idea to try and work through it. He and I had a talk the other night about it, he said that though he still didn't want to know if I was going out with a guy or not, he accepted who I am because I haven't changed much other than that. He's working on it still, takes more than two years to wipe clean a life-time of homophobia when you're his age." Dean smiled, "But I couldn't really ever complain, I've been pretty lucky."

"Lucky is an understatement." Jet popped a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth, "So when are you going to come out at school? Never, I assume."

"I think I should." Dean shrugged, "I mean it's the last year, what the hell could they possibly do to me? I'm Dean freaking Winchester, they love me."

Jet shook his head, "Aw man. I'm really curious to see what happens with Cas at school now. Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day."

"Sam said that too." Dean nodded, and grabbed a few pieces for himself. "I wonder why they're back though..."

"No idea, you'd have to ask him." Jet turned the volume up, "Now shut up, movie's on."

Dean laughed but decidedly stopped talking, tonight was their last night before one more year of school, might as well enjoy it.

* * *

Dean walked into the school and he could already hear all the gossiping and muttering about 'who the new guy was' because apparently his name hadn't been tossed around much. Dean headed straight for Garth and Chuck, "So, new guy... Is it Cas?" He asked as if he didn't know though the look that Garth gave him said enough. Apparently Castiel's trip to the store was in preparation for something.

"Saw him yesterday, actually." Garth smiled despite not liking Dean, "I've never seen him so happy, apparently whatever happened in Europe agreed with him."

Dean nodded, "So... what happened in Europe, exactly?"

"Acceptance, for one." Chuck answered, "He was able to be himself there. That and growing out of ugly duckling stage helps a lot too. His confidence is way up. I think there was some guy-" He was cut short when Garth elbowed him in the gut.

"Regardless of what Cas did to feel better about himself, I'm all for it. And it's also none of your business what happened in Europe, Dean. In fact, I think you should stay away from him, he's doing well and I don't want you scaring him off."

"I just want to apologize to him," Dean said sincerely, finding that he'd never lost the urge to do just that. It still ate at him when he thought about it.

"Well you might get your chance." Chuck muttered.

Dean raised an eyebrow curiously and heard some louder mutterings behind him; he glanced over his shoulder and saw Castiel strolling down the hall, blue eyes scanning for his friends. Cas' face lit up when he narrowed in on Garth's still goofy face and waved excitedly, "Hey guys!" he trotted over and glanced at Dean briefly before giving Garth a hug, something Garth had always done but now it just seemed cute, to Dean. "Hello, Dean." Cas said after giving Chuck a hug and straightening up again, Dean noted that Cas was still shorter than himself.

"Hey... Cas." Dean mentally slapped himself for that, twice! He'd done that twice now.

"Still a poet, I see." Cas smiled a little and moved to his assigned locker, swiftly opening the new lock as if he'd owned it for years. Dean was pretty impressed with Castiel's hands; he had to wonder what else they were good at.

"So, queer-boy is back. Why not do me a favour and get on your knees?" One of the old bullies sneered and laughed though he was startled into shutting up for a second when Castiel slammed his locker shut.

"Oh, sweetheart." Cas strut up to him, nearly nose to nose (a position Dean was envious of), and grabbed the guy's junk firmly. He squeezed a few times and let go, wiping his hand on the stunned teen's shirt, "Sorry, I don't do small. Maybe when you grow a pair we'll talk." He pat the guy's cheek sweetly and walked away with a smile, not bothering to pause and enjoy everyone laughing at the asshole.

And even though Cas didn't wait to laugh, Garth certainly did. "Owned!" He pointed at the jerk and slapped his knee before trotting after his old friend. "Cas, you  _rock_!"

Dean snickered, "Not big enough, apparently."

Jet walked over and threw his arm around the red faced and angry male, "Dude, you just got owned by a gay guy." He glanced at Dean with a grin before looking back at the other guy, "Guess it's time you stop being a judgemental ass-hat before I have to get a little more physical with you myself, get me?" Jet's voice dropped from joking to viciously angry, nearly hissing in the guy's ear. The bully nodded quickly and Jet smiled again, "Awesome." He pat the guy on the shoulder and walked over to Dean, "So that was Cas, huh?"

"Yeah." Dean said almost dreamily.

"Wow... Yeah you're in trouble." Jet smirked, "Good luck, man."

"Bah, you're no help." Dean laughed and walked into class, noticing that suddenly everyone wanted to sit around Castiel who, to his credit, had never abandoned his beliefs and still sat at the front of the room. Dean took his usual spot in the back, mentally kicking himself, wishing he could sit a bit closer.

"Alright, I see everyone's gotten wind that we have a returning student so I'd like you all to be kind to Castiel Novak." The teacher said as she started up the day, "And I hope you all had a great summer, what did you all do during your time off?"

"Worked," Jet spoke up first, never the one to raise a hand to be acknowledged.

"That's admirable of you Jet." She smiled at him in a strangely knowing way and he just returned it with his own, clearly a sarcastic smile that meant nothing.

"I wanna know what Cas has been up to." Someone spoke up and all eyes shifted toward Castiel who blushed and waved them off. Dean wanted to know the same though really he wanted to know what was going on in the other teen's head, why he came back to school here, why any of it really.

"No you don't," He glanced at them all and laughed a little, "Okay, maybe you do. Really?" He looked at the teacher who motioned to the front of the class.

"If you don't mind, Cas."

Castiel stood and went to the front of the room, and despite how much charisma he'd seemed to gain he did the same thing that Dean remembered every time a presentation came up, the glance down to his trembling hands that he clenched in order to calm. His gaze lingered on the floor by his feet before he looked up again and swallowed hard, knowing full well that all eyes were on him. Dean watched the way Cas worked himself up to this and had to wonder how much of this was an act, how much of this was Castiel strutting into the school as a new person and what was just him pretending.

"I don't want to bore you all so I'll keep it pretty brief," Cas said calmly after a few seconds of getting himself there. "We were living in Europe, England actually, until the end of June when I asked to take another trip." He looked at all the faces staring back at him and Dean thought he caught a glimpse of anger sparking behind those blue eyes. "My summer basically consisted of touring around different countries until we decided to come back to the US."

"Why?" Dean raised his hand when he asked and slowly lowered it again, most of the room had gone quiet and some people turned to look at him. Castiel's eyes were on him for a little bit as the teen thought about his answer carefully.

"I had requested it," Cas said finally, "It'd been a long time since I'd seen my friends and I wanted to see how things had changed around here. That, and my friend from England followed us here, he wanted to see where I grew up." His gaze had finally lifted from Dean and drifted over the others in the room, Dean was very grateful for it too because he was starting to feel a little suffocated. Castiel then bowed out to the teacher, "That's about it, floor's all yours."

She nodded, "Thank you, Castiel. I hope we get to hear more stories about your time in Europe at some point."

Cas laughed and sat down again, Dean swore he could listen to that laugh all day long. "Thanks, I'm sure it'll come up."

Jet nudged Dean, breaking him out of a strange dreamy state. "Dude, you're crushing bad."

Dean blushed and looked away, "No, just hormones..." But he smiled and couldn't help the thought of Cas, possibly with him some day, he realized that he still hadn't apologized yet. _'I've gotta tell him.'_  Dean decided firmly,  _'He has to know I tried to apologize before he left.'_  With that in mind, Dean tried to work out how he'd word it in his head.

* * *

Cas could feel his limbs shaking and thought that his heart would beat right out of his chest, exploding all over the floor. He'd come back to this school to show Balthazar he could do it, to prove that he could get over the humiliation and pain that he'd been put through. And as much as he boasted, as much as he pretended he could do it, he felt every muscle in his body urging him to run, run as fast as he could and run far away. He clenched his fists again and closed his eyes.  _'You're different now, you aren't that person anymore, you aren't scared of them because if they do anything you'll get them arrested, simple as that. You can do this, Castiel. You can do this.'_

He kept telling himself the same thing, over and over. He can do it. He can do it. It's just a matter of will-power. It didn't matter if Dean kept staring at him, if people like that jackass in the hall made fun of him because he was stronger than that now. But then, if he was so much stronger than he used to be, why was he so scared? He was over all of it, he moved on with his life without the frightened flashbacks in a public restroom, without flinching every time someone touched his head. He was over it. He was okay.

But then, is a person really okay if they have to keep telling themselves that? Cas grabbed his pencil and started writing notes like he knew how to, decidedly not thinking about it. He'd go back home and tell Balthazar how everything went, how his first day went and they'd decide whether or not Castiel was capable of staying in this godforsaken place. The point of coming back was to help him, to help him push past that last barrier of fear he'd been feeling and then he could really say he was doing okay. But so far he wasn't sure if he could handle it. He knew it'd be tough when he walked into it, he knew that people like Dean would still be here, would still remember him.

What was with that 'hi Cas' attitude anyway? Like Dean thought he could really just say 'hi' after all of that? Like he was judging the fact that Castiel had returned in the first place. It felt like an unfriendly 'what the hell are you doing back here?' sort of greeting. Castiel curled his bottom lip into his mouth and tried to concentrate. He was done thinking about Dean Winchester, that self-preserving dick. If he would get away with it a second time Cas knew he'd break at least ten more vases on that jerk's head.


	11. Chapter 11

_A day before..._

"No, I'm pretty sure that was you." Castiel laughed playfully as he carried a box up to his room, his cell propped up against his ear by his shoulder.

" _No, no, no! I was the one who screamed like a little girl and pretended to faint, remember?"_  It was Balthazar on the other line; they were in the middle of discussing a plan of Balthazar's that had gone horribly wrong.

"Oh right," Cas put the box down in his old room and glanced around it with a bit of a smile. Despite all the things that had happened in this town he was very glad to have his old room back. He'd grown up in this room, all his sleepovers and childhood memories were connected to this room and it was really nice to be in it again. "I remember now, you pretended to faint to get out of being beaten up though if I'm correct you were kicked a few times."

" _Technicalities."_  Balthazar chuckled,  _"So how's unpacking going?"_

"It's going, can't say I remember having this much stuff though... I have more clothes now than I know what to do with. You know I hate you for turning me into a clothing hoarder." Cas blamed him light heartedly as he started putting his books back onto the shelf they'd always been, noting he'd need a bigger bookcase at some point. "And you? How are you liking your new place?"

" _Well I'm just down the street from you so it's close by though I'm thinking I may end up finding a bigger place."_

"You spoiled brat," Cas laughed, "That's the biggest place you're going to find in this town, plus you're the only one living there so I'm sure you won't have an issue of space."

" _Bah!"_  Balthazar scoffed, it sounded like he'd just lifted a box of his own,  _"There's no such thing as too much space in this world, Cassy."_

The nickname 'Cassy' was one that he'd gotten used to, it seemed okay when Balthazar called him that, someone friendly. It was meant in a caring way, far from angry and far from meant to hurt him. "Whatever, Balthy. You coming over later? I was going to invite my friends so you could-"

" _Get a better feel for who you grew up with, yeah I'll be there. Don't be such a worry wart."_  Balthazar chuckled,  _"I'll see you later, gotta work a little harder to get this done on time."_

"Sure thing, I'll see you later." Cas hung up and dropped his phone onto the dresser. He sighed and looked out the window, an old view he remembered all too well. This would be it, this would be his test. All throughout his stay in England he'd seen Balthazar every day, then they'd gone on to tour the rest of the countries in Europe. He'd asked to settle back in England afterward, he found that every time he spoke to Balthazar he'd felt a little better, a little more like who he was supposed to be.

Castiel looked in the mirror next, staring at himself now seemed so different than it had before. He'd done everything he could to earn how he looked now, with Balthazar's assistance of course. A haircut and new style was the first step, he remembered. His hair had a mind of its own, it was very capable of being wild and for the longest time Castiel did what he could to fight that part of it, but now he just styled it a little otherwise he let it do what it wanted. It was nice, to wake up and not worry about how his hair was doing because it was probably pretty close to what he wanted it to look like anyway.

The next step was teaching him what kinds of products to use, skin products, hair products, every kind of product that he could to help himself. It hadn't taken that long to figure out his skin type and get rid of most of his break-outs, though being able to afford the higher quality things helped a lot (and having Balthazar there to point out which ones were best suited for him). Moisturizing his skin and waxing any unsightly hair was the next step. Castiel had a delicate frame, Balthazar had noted, and he didn't look like the type that was going to be incredibly butch so waxing was the best option.

The right clothing was also needed, something to fit his frame, something to suit his face and general colour scheme. Again, Balthazar was incredibly helpful with that. They'd gone to shops all over England, his new friend tagging along on each trip to be their private tour guide and in return they either paid him or just bought him lunch. Balthazar was a very well off individual though not nearly as well off as the Novak's so he appreciated anything they gave him.

After the diet and exercise advice Balthazar had given him, and forced on him, Castiel could look in the mirror and be proud of what he'd see. It was nice to see such a difference but the added detail that he was looking for finally came with laser-eye surgery. His parents wanted the best for him and so they did everything they could, being a family that was used to having so little they were really good at shopping around, keeping things simple and never lost their sense of what was important. However in the case of Castiel's self-esteem, they spent whatever Balthazar suggested would be best for him.

The glasses came off, those giant, thick-rimmed eye goggles removed from his face and he couldn't have been happier. Of course, the first few days his face had been bandaged so he really couldn't see at all for a while but when those had come off he was really happy. It could have been because he could see without his glasses or that fact that he could see at all after those damn bandages. Regardless it was a good feeling.

Castiel ran a hand up through his hair and sighed, not a lot of people were as fortunate as he was, for his family to suddenly come into money, for him to meet such a kind person out in England. He was lucky, he recognized that. But despite the fortune, the fact that his family's social status had changed so drastically, he never planned to take the money for granted. He didn't want to be a rich snob the way his brother insisted he had the right to be. It didn't feel true to who he was, who he saw himself to be.

Cas smiled and lifted up a large canvas, beautifully painted, a rainbow of colours perfectly merged together with pieces of a broken plate pasted to it in the shape of an abstract swan, its wings spread open wide. He promptly rummaged in the box he'd lifted it from and grabbed the nails he'd used to put it up in their last home. After a few moments of hunting down the hammer and a level object to make sure the thing would be straight, Castiel put up his masterpiece, also known as Wilson.

He stepped back to admire it before snatching up his cell and punching in the number for Garth's home, knowing that the guy's family probably wouldn't have changed it in the last two years anyway. "Hello, Mrs. Fitzgerald? ... Hi! It's Castiel... Yes I'm doing fine, thank you. Is Garth home? ... I'd appreciate that." He waited patiently until a mostly familiar voice chirped on the other end.

"Cas!" Garth sounded so excited.

"Yeah, it's me." Castiel smiled and sat down on his bed, "I was wondering what you're up to tonight."

"Does this mean you're back? Are you in town!" Garth squeaked excitedly.

"It does, can you come over tonight? You and Chuck maybe? I'd like to hang out a bit before school starts." Cas glanced at the time and figured his family wouldn't mind if he invited his friends over for the day, regardless of how the house looked.

"You know I will, you get some snacks and stuff and I'll grab the Chuckster." Garth said proudly, "What time?"

"Well I've got to go get snacks now so... an hour?"

"See you in approximately 60 minutes." Garth hung up without a goodbye, there was no point since they'd be hanging out soon enough.

Cas hurried downstairs to where Amelia was unpacking the kitchen, she was pro at it, or so she looked that way anyway. Could be the fact that she knew this kitchen for years of her life and things just made sense in certain places. "Hey mom, Garth and Chuck are coming over in a bit and I need to go get some snacks, okay?"

"Whoa whoa," Michael walked in, an adult and doing fairly well in his sports career until Castiel said he wanted to go back (or Balthazar said he really  _should_ ). Michael dropped everything, just like that. He knew that going back would be hard on Cas, he knew that Cas would need his big brother and being in another country didn't sit right with him. So Michael quit the team he was on and decided he'd take the rest of the year off before applying with an American team. Castiel couldn't say he liked football but Michael wasn't terrible at it and it was better to be supportive than not so he suffered through a game or two. It was sad that Michael let it all go like that but Cas was thankful.

"What?" Castiel looked up at his brother, still admittedly gorgeous.

"You aren't 'just going out to get snacks' Cas." Michael said seriously and knew he had to continue when he saw Castiel's tilted head, "This will be your first outing on the town; you have to show off a bit. Take the mustang."

"What? No! That's so... snobbish, what if they think I'm a spoiled rich kid?" Cas frowned, "I'll take the used car dad got me, it's more modest."

"You didn't come back to be modest, Cas. Show off a little of what you got; never know who might see you since it's such a small town." Michael smiled.

"I'm not here to impress anyone, I'm here to help myself." Cas sighed but took the keys to the mustang to make his brother happy, hearing a resounding 'YES' behind him. "I'll be back in a bit."

' _It's just for Michael... I'm not driving this thing around everywhere I go. Hell, I won't drive. I've walked this town before, it's pretty small and I don't need to drive.'_  He decided as he backed off the driveway and headed down the road. The sun glared directly into his face and he promptly put his sunglasses on. Take that, sun.

' _I could either go to the grocery story or the convenience store... Grocery store's going to have more people walking around in it... Not that I'm scared or anything but I think I'll avoid a big splash for now.'_

Castiel decidedly drove to the convenience store and as he pulled up along the road he noticed a black Chevrolet Impala and a leather jacket wearing teen about his age standing next to it.  _'Oh... my... GOD! WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!'_  He thought in a panic. The first thing he did was crank his CD, still listening to Adam Lambert's Trespassing album (what could he say? He really enjoyed it).  _'That's Dean. That's Dean fucking Winchester. What the hell! What the hell!'_  Even though he was scared to death he parked the car perfectly next to Dean's Impala.

' _Castiel, get a hold of yourself. So tomorrow isn't the day you make an impression, right now is. RIGHT NOW. Get a grip, swallow that fear and remember that if you've got the key then pop that lock. You've got the key so get your ass out there.'_  He cut the engine and climbed out, noting the expression on Dean's face as he rose from the driver's side door.  _'If you want be it, you've got to dream.'_  Cas thought and tipped his sunglasses, a quick wink in Dean's direction before strutting his stuff inside.

' _Not so hard, is it? He didn't even say anything to you... I don't think he knows it's me.'_  Cas went to the magazines first, noting that it'd been a long while since he'd seen an American fashion mag. He'd learned all the current fashions in Europe and that's usually where things started so he wasn't too concerned about being out-dated. He lost himself a little as he squatted there, he didn't notice Dean walking in however he heard Sam's voice after a moment.

Cas stood with the magazine in hand took his sunglasses off, folding them and hooking one of the arms in the front of his shirt.  _'Snacks...'_  He looked over to the snack aisle and saw Sam and Dean in it. Just his luck of course. As Cas approached he heard the conversation, Dean was telling Sam to come out of the closet to another boy at school, it  _never hurts_ , he'd said. Castiel's expression grew a little darker as he couldn't help a bitter laugh.

"Something funny?" It was Dean, sounding a bit defensive.

"Yeah, it's really funny to hear you of all people saying that." Castiel had offered a smile, a sweet thing though he could almost taste the poison of his words on his own tongue. His anger swelled in him but just as quickly as it rose he managed to crush it. Balthazar had taught him more than how to take care of his body and look good. He'd taught him things about how to act, how to portray himself, but mostly Balthazar taught him how to deal. It was amazing, Castiel was pretty sure Balthazar should be some kind of shrink or therapist or something, he worked miracles. Granted Cas wasn't totally okay but it'd swayed his mind from self-mutilation more than once, Balthazar had saved him from himself and that was something worth praising.

Sam recognized him first, of course. Sam was always the smart one. And with a compliment no less. "You look amazing!"

"Hey Sam, nice to see you again." Of course as much as he trusted he looked good he couldn't help but run a hand through his hair, hoping it wasn't a mess from all the loading and unloading he'd been doing in the move. He hadn't exactly primped for this, he wasn't ready to go out into public to make his entrance and he definitely wasn't prepared for the Winchesters. But fate dealt its hand, the best he could do now was play it the best way he could. "And thanks, that's really sweet of you." He knew what he was doing, he needed to show Dean that he'd not only changed, he was more comfortable in his sexuality than ever. He needed to  _show_  Dean, he needed to  _challenge_  it. He moved to Sam's side, passing Dean on the way, giving the other teen no acknowledgement whatsoever, and gave Sam an innocent peck on the cheek.

Finally Dean spoke! A moment Castiel had been waiting for and yet... all Dean said was 'hi Cas'. Like he was an afterthought, like he'd been so far removed from Dean's mind that everything he did was just an over dramatized display. Or maybe that was just him? Maybe he was over thinking it. That was probably it, it was just a 'hi Cas' after all. Nothing special, nothing important for either side to think about.

It didn't matter what Dean thought, not to him. Cas decided this a long time ago, it was time to prove it to himself. He smiled back at Dean, knowing the social courtesies better than most. "Hi."

"Your voice sounds different." Dean said next.

Was he really so dense?! What the hell was he trying to say? Cas wanted to smack him upside the head and yell 'say something meaningful already!' but he didn't. Instead he took the higher ground, pushed his drama queen tendencies down and decided to calmly make a fool out of the boy who had so easily humiliated him. A raised eyebrow and a snarky comment, "Yeah, that's what puberty does, big boy." That ought to make him feel ridiculous. Cas had picked up a few habits while with Balthazar, while discovering himself. He was a lot more flamboyant than he used to be, closer to the flaming side of gay sometimes when he was comfortable enough. It was fun, he enjoyed it. And yet it was hard to bring that out right now. Cas turned away, deciding he wanted out of there as fast as possible. He grabbed a bag of chips as he passed the rack and waved back at the Winchesters, "See you later, Sam." Not speaking to Dean.

Cas went to the counter after that, his heart in his chest and he thought it was over, time to relax. Nope. Dean and Sam joined him, right behind him. Cas glanced back for a second and then back at the cashier. In that one brief moment he looked he caught Dean, staring down at his ass.  _'Oh my god what the hell...'_  He thought, more confused now than ever.  _'He... he likes my ass? He's checking me out... He's checking me out? What? WHAT?'_  Cas kept a straight face while paying and walked back toward his car, knowing full well that Dean had managed to get to the second person on duty at the counter so they were walking out at the same time. Dean right behind him.  _'He's staring at my ass... Pervert. Perverted douche staring at my ass.'_

He did the best walk around his car he could manage and paused before he hopped in.  _'I should let him know I know. I'm not the nerdy, scared Castiel anymore. I'm desirable, I'm a beautiful, attractive young man and I am worth something. He can't just stare at me like that without being a little embarrassed.'_  Cas leaned on the hood of his car a bit, "Dean," he said sweetly as he smiled, catching Dean's attention and putting the sunglasses back over his eyes, "Next time just take a picture, it'd be more subtle than staring."

The look he'd gotten from Dean just in that moment was worth all the suffering in the last five to ten minutes. A little wave of his fingers to add the insult to injury, "Later, baby." He hopped into the mustang, mentally thanking Michael for forcing him to do this, and as he started the car he cranked 'Pop that Lock' as his exit song, not looking back as he drove off.

"Oh my god..." he finally exhaled and laughed, "That just happened! Oh my god that just happened!" He laughed all the way home, excited to tell his friends all about it.


	12. Chapter 12

Break time came, finally. Dean found himself standing awkwardly at his locker, waiting for an opening to talk to Castiel. He looked up at the now openly gay and flamboyant teen and couldn't help but feel a wave of relief; at least Castiel was happy now. Though still, Dean would feel a lot better if he could just get this apology done and over with. That was probably what made him continually think about Cas, what else would it be? Of course Cas was smoking hot now, that helped his hormones justify it though he'd always been pretty good with self-control that way so he wasn't going to let that be his excuse.

So then why exactly did he constantly think about Castiel? It  _had_  to be that he wanted to apologize; Jet had made a good point about crushing over Cas though... Dean frowned and forced his way through the hall to Castiel's side and took his hand without hesitating, though mostly that was because he stopped himself from over thinking.

"I need to talk to you." Dean said in as sincere a way he could, not realizing that those words might have even been the most he'd spoken to the other male.

Castiel looked down at their hands for a few seconds before glancing back up and looking right into Dean's eyes again, he never got tired of that stare, the intensity of it. Cas didn't say anything for what felt like an eternity to Dean, his hand squeezing Cas' until the other teen finally nodded, "Alright," he then let Dean lead him out of the crowds of people and outside for a little more quiet. Castiel retrieved his hand and crossed his arms defensively, "What?" His sweet tone had dissolved entirely, the harsh gravelly baritone coming out a little stronger.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for everything." Dean started, finding that preparing earlier didn't help much at all. "And I know I don't deserve any kind of forgiveness from you for the hell I put you through but I just really wanted you to know."

Castiel's expression was scrutinizing as he scanned Dean's features for any kind of deceit. And then at the same time, what exactly could Dean do to him now? "You're sorry?" He asked slowly, repeating it as if he didn't understand the meaning of the words. "You say 'put me through hell' but I don't think you quite understand what I went through. I  _know_ it was you, on that field trip, who walked into the bathroom saw me there, and left."

"I didn't-"

"NO!" Castiel threw his arms down as he shouted, stepping closer to Dean and poking his chest hard enough to bruise him, "You didn't! You didn't do  _anything_! You walked in, saw someone who was barely able to stand, bleeding from the mouth and skull and  _you walked out_! I don't even give a flying fuck that it was me, but the fact that you'd base whether or not you would help someone on their sexuality is fucked up and you should be ashamed of yourself!"

"You're right, Cas." Dean tried not to flinch from Castiel's prodding; it hurt after several pokes in the same place. "I felt sick with myself after I did that, after I just left you there... I wanted to tell you I'm sorry before you left but I couldn't get near you. I've been feeling like crap over this for the last few years, Cas. I'm really, really sorry. Is there any way you could give me another chance?"

Castiel's lip twitched upward in a snarl before he turned away, like he couldn't look at Dean anymore. "I don't know." He spat angrily, "You're still friends with Jet, I see. He still as much of a jackass as I remember?"

"He's on and off." Dean admitted, "Depends on who his friends are though he was defending you in the hall way this morning."

Cas was quiet for a second before he turned around again, his posture still incredibly closed off to Dean. "Did he? What happened?"

"The guy that you burned pretty good, Jet threatened him to leave you alone from now on or things would get a little messy for him. I don't think anyone will dare bully you anymore, Cas." Dean scratched the back of his head, "Gotta say though, that was a good way to show that douche up."

Castiel chuckled, "Yeah, I was thinking of doing that or just full on kissing him. Decided not to dirty my mouth though, not a fan of that kind of taste." He shifted a little and looked Dean up and down again, "So... what happened? What's with the change of attitude toward homosexuality?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Dean smiled.

Castiel's gaze travelled up and down Dean's body a second time in the last few seconds, Dean felt a shiver running up his spine as those bright blue eyes flicked back up to his, that smile spreading those perfect lips, "Try me."

"Over dinner sometime?" Dean returned the smile though he saw the strange glint in Castiel's eyes as less friendly.

"Maybe, I suppose." Cas leaned forward and kissed Dean's cheek, the same spot he had in grade 9. The difference this time was in Dean's reaction, he felt a wave of heat rush through his body and he suddenly felt very light-headed, like he was walking on clouds. Cas giggled at him, "Something's definitely different in you." He stroked Dean's cheek and started walking back toward the doors, "I'll consider your friendship over the course of the rest of this week but if I see any of your old colours... well I'm sure if that's the case you won't be too disappointed anyway."

Dean smiled proudly, so happy that Castiel would even consider thinking about giving him a second chance. "I won't let you down, gorgeous." His face flushed when that last word came out but he rolled with it anyway, winking at Castiel as the other teen glanced back at him.

"I'm sure." Cas smiled and went inside, "We're gonna be late, come on."

Dean felt like a puppy running after his master the way he followed Castiel inside. Or maybe it was more like a horny mutt following a beautiful pure bred? Either way, he enjoyed the view from behind Cas as the other teen strut his way back to class.

* * *

Castiel couldn't believe what had just happened. Dean was sorry. He'd been thinking about... about everything for the last few years? What was this? A joke? A game? Some new way to mess with him? Cas didn't want to be an asshole, he didn't want to be like every other shitty teenager and completely ignore a decent apology because his emotions were in the way. But he didn't trust it either. He didn't know what to do so instead he'd given Dean a week to show him, to prove he was worth anything more now than he had been. Castiel didn't trust it. He didn't believe it, that people could change  _that_  drastically without some kind of help. What had Dean done in the last few years that changed him? Was it the thought of Castiel? The apology he wanted to give?

Cas needed to run this all by Balthazar first, he'd play the part of a decent human being until he get the answer, at least. No jumping to conclusions and acting on the awful emotions he was feeling. If he'd acted on his feelings he would have decked Dean right then and there. He did end up screaming at the guy but not nearly as much as he wanted to. He would though, he knew he would. If not scream then at least let Dean Winchester know and make sure he understood what Castiel had gone through, what he'd almost done to himself several times and where his mind went.

Dean was not in his good books. Dean wasn't his friend and it'd take a lot more than a few days of being on his best behaviour for Castiel to accept him. He said he'd consider the friendship after a week, he never said he'd allow it.

* * *

Lunch time came pretty quickly, watching Cas seemed to pass the time easier than paying attention to their chemistry teacher. Castiel walked out with Garth and Chuck, an image that looked so odd to anyone who didn't know their history. Someone as pretty as Cas hanging out with the most neurotic, scuzzy guy in the whole school, as well as Garth, tiny, Chihuahua-esque Garth with his big bulging eyes and even bigger ears.

Dean walked after them and leaned against the locker beside Castiel's, "Hey, so what was the plan for lunch?"

Cas, who had been a little startled by Dean's sudden appearance, laughed softly and turned his attention back to the contents of his locker. "I was going to take these two out for lunch; we planned it yesterday during our visit."

"Yeah? We were thinking of buying lunch too, mind if we tag a long?" Dean smiled, earning a raised eyebrow from Jet who had followed him.

"Dude, I don't have the money for that." Jet muttered which resulted in Dean's elbow jabbing him in the gut. "Ow! Bitch."

Cas chuckled but shook his head, "Sorry guys, just me and my friends on this one. Maybe next time." He looked over at the beaming expressions on Garth and Chuck's faces, "Let's go, boys."

"Hell yeah!" Garth grinned and started down the hall with the other two in tow.

Castiel glanced over his shoulder and winked playfully at Dean who had to make sure he wasn't drooling after that ass. "Damn..." Dean sighed, "Well I guess it'll take a little longer than that to get his attention."

"You've got his attention, just gotta show you're worth keeping around." Jet shrugged and paused for a second, "I'm not cock-blocking or anything am I?"

"Nah, you're good. He did ask about you though, kind of funny." Dean smiled and grabbed the two lunch bags in his locker, tossing one to Jet, "Mom made that for you, by the way."

"You're kidding?" Jet laughed, "She's going to make me lunches for this year? I need to give that woman some more credit, she's freaking awesome."

"Better start giving her stuff on mother's day, dude." Dean laughed though part of him regretted saying it. Jet had been his friend for a long time now, though it hadn't always been that way. Jet was a tough customer, it was almost impossible to take him down in a fight and his temper was an ugly thing. Of course, that probably came from years of fights with his father, a good man who'd lost his wife and simply couldn't take it. An abusive drunk with a nasty temper and violent streak was not a good kind of person to raise a kid. Dean still admired how strong Jet was though, he never let it on and in fact Dean was the only one at school who knew about it. Of course that meant for a nasty reputation, no one knew why Jet acted the way he did, an asshole, a bully, someone who would hit you if you pissed him off, they just knew that he was not someone you want to mess with.

Dean knew it was all in defence, Jet didn't trust anyone, not right away. When they first met they fought, Dean lost miserably. It was almost as if any hits he made didn't faze the guy people were calling a monster, he really was a beast. Dean was the only one who saw Jet's home life, the only one who dared follow Jet home from school. He wanted to play a prank on the bully but what he found and ended up doing were totally different. Instead he offered his home to Jet and after that Jet came over pretty much every night. Welcome in their family and even though Dean couldn't figure out how Jet's mind worked half the time, they were best friends.

Jet let the mother's day thing roll off though; he'd lived through enough mothers' days without a mom to be used to it. "Yeah. I should actually." He looked down the hall after Dean's crush and smirked, "So best behaviour time?"

"Pretty much." Dean laughed. "Pretty much."

* * *

"That was weird." Garth glanced back as they walked outside, "So Dean's getting all buddy-buddy with you now?" He looked up at Cas curiously.

Castiel nodded, "He's trying, anyway." His gaze drifted to the flagpole as he walked past it to the street, part of him felt uncomfortable by the memory but he reminded himself that that wasn't him anymore. However it did remind him what kind of person Dean Winchester had been, what he should watch out for. "I don't trust him, honestly."

"And no reason you should." Chuck added in, adjusting his bag on his shoulder as it continually slipped down. Cas made a mental note to get the guy a new one to fix that issue, or at least replace it because of how ratty it looked. Most of the leather had peeled or flaked off and from the look of it two of the zippers were broken.

"I know I don't have to," Castiel sighed and ran a hand up through the perfectly styled mess he had going on, "I just think it'd be the right thing to do, to give him another shot and show me that he's different, you know?"

"But you'd much rather punch him in the face right?" Garth raised an eyebrow.

Castiel laughed and shook his head, "More like run him over with my car, but yeah you get the idea."

"Then why not?" Chuck asked curiously.

"You remember Balthazar from yesterday, right? I promised him I'd do this, I'd get over this last hump and I'd be okay. I didn't expect Dean to do this though... I have to ask him what he thinks I should do, if I'm doing the right thing by giving him a chance or if maybe I should just... not. You know?"

"I think you need to think for yourself." Garth smiled, "But getting advice from a guru like Balthy isn't such a bad idea."

"I'm telling him you started calling him that." Cas laughed.

* * *

Sam took a deep breath and fiddled with the perfectly wrapped lollipop in his back pack. The last thing he needed right now was to be tormented like Castiel had been in grade 9 but he didn't want to live forever wondering what if. Sam was a fairly well known kid already, pretty popular in his grade and renowned for his 'cuteness' or so Dean had put it. He wasn't on the same social rung as Castiel, plus Dean Winchester was his older brother... though Michael being related to Cas didn't help much in that situation...

Regardless, Sam squared his shoulders and ignored his doubts. He was a brave kid, he could do this on his own and he was pretty sure he wouldn't have any difficulties in the long run. He approached Gabriel as most of the lunch rush had passed by, the other teen left mostly alone by his locker. Sam took a deep breath, remembering that whatever happened to him he'd be fine because if someone like Castiel could come out on top then why couldn't he?

"Gabriel?" Sam approached nervously.

Gabriel closed his locker and looked up, "Hey, Sammy! What's shakin'?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at that but ignored it for the most part, "I just... uh..." He fidgeted and pulled the candy from behind his back and handed it over, "Here."

Gabriel looked at it and took it without much question, at least until he unwrapped it. His bright eyes snapped back up to look at Sam though his expression was far from readable. Sam swallowed hard and smiled a little.

"For you." He said simply, finding his courage again and standing on it as tall as he could.

"Thanks," Gabriel peeled the rest of the plastic off and started trying to fit the large thing into his mouth every which way though it was far from being able to fit. "Uh..." He laughed a little, "Wanna join me for lunch?"

"Yeah, sure." Sam tried not to sound too excited but he couldn't help the way his eyes lit up at that. Things went a lot better than he'd expected, he'd have to tell Dean about it later.

* * *

Jet dropped down into a lunch room chair and cringed as it creaked. "This shit hole of a school needs new stuff..." he muttered look at the untrustworthy seat.

"Well if you'd stop doing things to the building that they need to pay to fix then maybe we would be sitting on sofas right now." Dean smirked, knowing full well that whatever vandalism Jet had done wasn't bad enough to mean anything like what he'd said, though it was just funny to watch the unimpressed expression spread over his friend's face.

"Very funny. So what's the plan with Cas? What're you going to do this week to get him to like you?" Jet opened up the lunch Dean had given him as he spoke, rummaging through it for the sandwich.

"I have no idea..." Dean sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I mean what if it's a test to see if I try too hard? Or not hard enough? Or if there's something specific he wants. I'll just be me for the first half and see how it's going mid-way through the week."

"You get that since it's the first week of school we only started on Wednesday, right?" Jet raised an eyebrow. In their town the first day of school never landed on the start of a week, no one wanted a full week right away after such a long holiday, it'd be murder.

"Fuck." Dean face-palmed dismally, "That means I have until either Friday afternoon or maybe at least until Saturday. What kind of week does he run on? I'll have to ask him... Damn it, he's as complicated a chick."

"Don't say that too loud, you'll piss off more than just Cas." Jet snickered, "And like you said before, just be you and see if it's good enough. I mean you don't want him if he's going to make you change who you are, right?"

"But he's trying to make me a better person, I mean he's not trying to but that's what he expects. And I want to be a better person, I hate who I was to him, you know? I need to make it right." Dean shook his head, "I just can't figure out how yet."

"I'm telling you it's not worth the stress you're putting in." Jet shook his head, "But if you think a high school crush will be worth something in the future then by all means, go for it."

"You never know, some people hook up and stay with their high school sweethearts." Dean shrugged with a smile.

"But you two aren't sweethearts, he hates you." Jet raised an eyebrow, "I mean really, there's some pleasantries he's extended you because somewhere he learned it's decent social manners to not be a dick in public but dude, trust me, he hates you."

"If he's capable of hating someone that much then he's capable of loving them the same amount," Dean nodded, "My mom told me that once."

"She has to say that! I've seen the way your parents fight, there's a lot of love hate in that relationship." Jet retorted and took a bite out of his sandwich, "If she didn't say that then she'd just hate John and that'd be ugly for all of us."

Dean smiled and shook his head, "I believe her. I can prove myself to Castiel and who knows, it might go further than friendship." He hoped it would, it'd be nice to have that piece of ass in bed with him.

Though something Dean wasn't quite aware of was that he spent a little too much time focusing on the physical aspects of Castiel, he'd have to go a lot deeper than that to crack who the other teen was, his personality, his likes and dislikes, the things he found very important and the things he didn't care about. Dean's attempts to please Castiel over the next few days would start after lunch though he expected he'd have to keep it up for much longer than that.


	13. Chapter 13

After lunch was nothing special, Dean found absolutely no opportunities to show Castiel anything. People slowly started to warm up to the new version of Cas, though, he quickly became a favourite for all of the girls in their grade. None of them had ever had a gay friend before; it was possibly the coolest thing that they could think to happen in their grade 12 year. Dean rolled his eyes when he heard the girls talking about it, giggling over it and going on about how they'd invite Cas to their sleepovers.

Dean didn't even know that these girls still did that! Seventeen years old and still with the sleepovers? Why didn't any of the guys know of this? They'd be all over that 'peeping' shit. At least he knew Jet would have, had he known anything about it. Regardless though, Dean wished he could get invited just to get the chance to sleep next to Castiel.

Garth and Chuck weren't invited either though at least they still got to stand with Castiel while the girls flocked him. Dean watched as the two mostly unpopular guys looked like they'd died and gone to heaven, obviously being friends with Castiel and going through that hell with him had paid off in some way. Dean wished he could proudly say he'd stood up for something. He  _had_ , technically, stood up for what he believed in but his thoughts weren't exactly tolerant ones...

"Castiel!" Jo hurried through the crowd and caught the teen's arm, his blue eyes lighting up when he saw her.

"Jo, hi." He smiled and glanced down at something in her arms, "What're those for?"

Dean strained to see though he didn't have to for very long, she lifted up a sheet of paper and beamed, "You were a class rep in grade 9, right?"

"No... actually I was voted out of that position." Castiel did his best to keep the snide tone to himself but Dean could tell it was there, Jet had made a good point about the 'not being a dick in public' thing.

"Yeah, most of you guys voted for people like Dean." Garth added the snarkiness that Castiel had managed to avoid, someone still had to show their backbone here. "Popularity contest and all that."

Jo paused, "Oh... that sucks..." She was in a grade lower than them, Dean was well aware of that since their families seemed to get along pretty well, especially their dads. She was always into the whole student council thing and apparently that's what she was after currently. "Well did you want to run for student council president?"

"Me?" Castiel sounded legitimately surprised and all the supporting talk around him didn't help much. "But... but isn't there someone more qualified for this? I mean I wasn't ever a class rep here and-"

"Cas, quit being so modest." Chuck elbowed him, "Or scared, whichever it is."

"Yeah, you told us that you were vice president of the student council back in England." Garth smiled, "Come on, if anything this'll be easier, it's a smaller school."

Cas turned an unimpressed stare on his friends and Dean couldn't help but find it adorable. The way his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes narrowed just enough to bring his cheeks up, his lips pressed together tightly and his jaw clenched in the perfectly defining the details in his neck. "Alright," Cas looked back at Jo who lit up at his words, "I'll run for it."

"Perfect! So far you're the only one running for president." She grinned and wrote his name down, not looking at the 'I've been had' expression his face twisted into.

"Hey! Jo!" Dean called, "I'll run for vice, if that's okay." He smiled when she beamed at him.

"You mean it?" Jo had always had difficulty rounding people into being on the student council; it wasn't exactly something every teenager was leaping at the chance for. "This'll be a good year, I think!" She handed them both the papers to fill out and anyone else who decided to sign up, not that there were that many.

Cas glanced at Dean, a look that had an edge to it. As playful as he was acting, as nice as he seemed, that look was like a dagger straight into Dean.  _'Wow... Jet wasn't kidding, he hates my guts.'_  Regardless, he returned the glare with a smile and filled the page out.

As everyone escaped to the classroom, last break was over, Dean was about to follow when a hand gripped the back of his shirt and pulled him back, another one pressed against his chest and slamming him into a locker. Dean was shocked, staring up right into Castiel's unsettling stare. "Hi, Cas."

"Don't give me that," Cas snarled, "What are you up to?"

Jet glanced at them but didn't feel the need to step in and walked into the class, keeping an eye on Garth and Chuck who had promptly saved Cas' regular seat.

"What do you mean? I signed up to be vice president, what's the issue?" Dean tried to sound innocent, that his motive wasn't to be as close to Cas as often as possible, however Castiel clearly wasn't buying it.

"Bullshit." Cas let go of him and stepped back, "If this is either a lame attempt to show me you're suddenly interested in the school, or if it's a way to stay close to me for some ungodly reason, it won't do you much good." He glanced to make sure other people weren't watching, most of the hall was empty. Cas leaned in and poked Dean in the chest once, leaving his finger pressed down there, "If you try  _anything_  to hurt me, anything at all, you're done, it's over. Understood? I won't stand for that kind of behaviour anymore, I didn't deserve being treated like some disgusting unworthy thing before and I  _certainly_  don't deserve being treated like an easy object now. When you look at me keep your eyes above my belt, I am a person with feelings and right now you're pissing every one of them off."

Dean was shocked at how pissed Cas was, he'd just tried to sign up to be vice president for pete's sake! "Cas, I promise I'm only signing up to help Jo out this year. And I'll admit I signed up for vice because you'll be president but I was going to be a rep regardless, okay?" He knew that being fully honest would have meant saying 'I want to watch you and stay close, more opportunities to prove myself' and all that, but of course then the little talking to he'd just gotten would have been a bit more violent.

Castiel stared at him, judging his honesty painfully close. "Fine." He removed his finger from Dean's chest and stepped back, "You'd better put the effort in, though. I'm not going to run this whole thing by myself. Don't you dare skip a single meeting." He briskly walked to class, just before the bell went, leaving Dean the only one late.

"Gotta say..." Dean smiled and rubbed his chest as the pain settled in from where Cas' finger had been resting. "He's even hotter when he's pissed." He couldn't get enough of that voice, the low growl in everything that Cas said when speaking to him. It was obviously a sign of his anger but damn it sounded good.

* * *

The day was over, finally. Castiel sighed and went to his locker, he wasn't out yet, he wasn't free just yet. He glanced at all the faces that turned toward him and he felt himself smiling.  _'Why am I smiling at these people? None of them know what their bullying did to me. None of them moved to help. It wasn't just Dean... so why am I taking it all out on him? The only one trying to reconcile things?'_  He shook his head and threw his things into his bag. He just wanted to get home, to go talk to Balthazar about it.

"I'll see you guys later," he smiled at Garth and Chuck who both returned the expression.

"Yeah, glad you came back, Cas." Chuck waved.

"You're doing awesome!" Garth gave him a thumbs up.

Castiel laughed lightly and headed toward the exit, passing by Dean and Jet on his way. He made a point of not looking at them as he walked past, knowing full well that Dean's eyes were on him. Cas wanted to glance back, to see if Dean kept his eyes above waist level, but he didn't. As he walked outside he saw Balthazar's car sitting there, his English friend waving casually from the driver's side. Cas smiled excitedly and ran over as Balthazar hopped out to greet him.

They leaned over and kissed one another's cheeks, arms wrapping around each other in a quick hug. "What're you doing here?" Cas asked as he stepped back again.

"Well I knew your first day would probably be pretty terrible so I figured I'd stop in and give you a ride home." Balthazar smiled and glanced over at the front door where Dean was staring at them. The description that Cas had given of the guy seemed to fit this one so he made a note of what Dean's expression seemed to be. "Jealous."

"What?" Cas turned back and spotted Dean who definitely had a sour look on his face. "Oh... I don't think so, Balthy. That's Dean."

"I kind of figured. But he looks jealous." Balthazar grinned and gently stroked Castiel's cheek, "If our greeting to one another pisses him off then this is going to be too much fun."

Cas smirked, "You're awful, you know that? If he's jealous at all it's because you get to touch me. He's kinda pervy these days."

"He's a teenager, of course he is." Balthazar walked around the other side of the car and hopped in. "Let's go, let's go!"

Castiel laughed and hopped in as the music flared up, an English-popular mixed CD with a bunch of choice dance songs. He'd only been in Europe for a few years but he knew these songs well enough since they were Balthazar's favourites. He did a little dance in his seat as he belted himself in and Balthazar nearly floored it and they tore off the lot.

Dean was left standing and staring in complete awe. "Who the hell was  _that_  creep! ?" He stuck his palm out toward where the car had been, Jet standing at his side and shrugging.

"Not a friggin' clue, dude." Jet shrugged and started heading down the street, "Come on, man, John wanted us to run a few drills today, remember?"

"Of course I remember but who was that guy!" Dean flailed his arm a bit, just barely missing Garth as the teen walked out of the school.

"Whoa! Watch it, Winchester." Garth glanced up at him and glanced down the street as Balthazar's car disappeared, "You don't know who that was?"

"No! Do you?" Dean looked down at the suddenly smirking dork beside him.

"That's Balthazar, he's Cas' 'special' friend from England." Garth answered, his smile only growing as he looked back up at Dean and continued on down the street toward his house. "Later, losers."

Jet furrowed his brow and bent over, picked up a rock and just about threw it when Dean looked at him sharply. "What? He called us... Fine." Jet tossed the rock back to the ground, "Whatever."

Dean ignored his friend's bitter mutterings as he just stared at the last corner he'd seen the car disappear around. Cas' 'special' friend. Did that mean what he was thinking? Cas was taken already, they were together, that must have been it. Why else would the guy come pick Cas up after school?  _'He looked douchey.'_  Dean decided angrily, too douchey for someone like Castiel.

"Hey Dean, you waited for me." Sam walked over, this being his first year he was allowed to use the high school doors.

"Yeah..." Dean muttered and shook his head, "How'd that lollipop thing... go..." Dean trailed off when he saw the blush on Sam's cheeks and the way he adjusted his collar, "Did he hurt you?" Dean quickly moved to check though Sam was stepping away from him just as fast.

"No! No! I'm fine!" He tried to shoo Dean away but his big brother moved his sweater collar pretty easily, revealing a red spot or two.

Dean sputtered and laughed, getting up again and walking away, "Oh Sam, that's too funny!"

"What's up?" Jet raised an eyebrow, glancing at Sam's burning red face then back to Dean.

"He's got hickeys all over his neck." Dean ran a finger along his own neck to show Jet where, "Apparently someone  _really_  loves candy."

Jet snorted back a laugh and joined his buddy as they headed toward the Winchester residence. Sam sighed and followed, glancing back at the school and waved at Gabriel who was watching and promptly waved back with a wink. Sam ran after Dean and noticed the route they were taking was a bit off. "Hey, where are we going? The shorter way is down-"

"I know, just wanted to grab some drinks before going home." Dean smiled, "Figured we'd pop by the convenience store again."

Sam shrugged and followed, figuring it couldn't really hurt.

* * *

"So that's basically how the day went." Cas rubbed his face and looked up at Balthazar who was sitting in a chair across from his bed, where Cas was sitting cross legged. "What do you think I should do?"

"Well I think you're doing it, really." Balthazar smiled, "You're giving him a chance even though he doesn't deserve it. That's a good sign, Cassy. Plus you're going to take leadership over the whole student body, magnificent progress for the first day. I'm pretty impressed."

"You... think I should actually give Dean a chance?" Cas squinted in confusion, "Of course you do... but... I don't know if I really can. I mean it looks like I am but I haven't considered it at all, I don't want to give him a chance. In fact I think it's dangerous what I've been doing; I'm playing with fire here."

"No, only you think you are. Dean's ogling you up and down, even I can see that."

"He's a horny teenager, and I've fallen for that 'you're attractive' pitch before. I'm not sure if you remember but it didn't go so well." Cas shuddered and clenched the hand that had been broken. It was all healed up now though sometimes he felt phantom pains in it when he woke from nightmares, it would cramp up as if being crushed though he knew there was no actual way it was possible.

"This is different, Cas. You're different." Balthazar tried to reassure him, "You can't exactly fall for something stupid like that if you don't believe it, you know? There's nothing to worry about because there's nothing any of those people can do to you anymore. You've grown up, and from what you told me people are willing to defend you now."

Cas sighed and dropped his face into his hands, "I... I guess you're right..." He knew that Balthazar had a point, that so many people were excited about his transformation, about who he'd become. But something about that bothered him to no end, who he had 'become' wasn't really anyone different. He was the same dork he used to be, he just looked better. Like he'd always thought, being in the 'popular circle' made all the difference. Unpopular people weren't allowed to enjoy music, weren't allowed to be funny or crack a joke at someone's expense. Now that he looked different and had grown up he was permitted.

He hated it. The hierarchy. The way people looked down on one another. He was glad for who he was, that he'd never let go of his friendship with Garth and Chuck because of statuses. Like Garth had once said, they were the cool kids. They were who they wanted to be and they were proud of themselves. And from Castiel's current point of view, Garth was right, that did make them the cool ones. Everyone else could learn a thing or two from that scrawny little teen named Garth.

"Think you can stay a bit longer?" Cas asked sheepishly.

"Of course." Balthazar smiled, "But I'll have to make a run down to the store, I think we're in need of a drink or two."

"Pop, you mean." Cas raised an eyebrow, "I don't want to get mixed up in alcoholic drinks and things yet."

"Obviously, you stay here, I'll be right back." Balthazar pat Castiel on the head and walked out straight to his car, driving off to that convenience store that Cas had mentioned earlier.

As Balthazar walked in he spotted the familiar frame of the one Cas called Dean,  _'What luck.'_  He thought and strolled past the Winchester party. "Hello," He said cheerily as he walked toward the coolers in the back of the store.

Dean glanced up and his brow furrowed, "Is that...?"

"Are you Cas' friend?" Sam asked curiously, "The special one?"

Apparently word travelled fast. "Yes," Balthazar looked at them with a bright smile, "And you three are?"

"I'm Sam, I talked to Cas a little bit before he left." Sam stuck his hand out and promptly shook Balthazar's happily.

"Jet," The tallest of the teens offered briskly, not sure if anything he said would really count for something with this guy.

"Dean." Dean sounded pissed and didn't offer his hand to shake at all, "What kind of 'special friend' are you to Cas?"

"What's it to you?" Balthazar grinned, loving the look of anger he was receiving for this. He was well aware of his own position with Castiel, the helpful and guiding hand of an older friend. Someone wiser, someone to show him the right way and help him trudge through the things that bothered him. In England he had come across Castiel on that random day the teen had been hunting for super glue. Castiel had been in pieces though he couldn't see it yet. His heart broken, his will shattered, he had absolutely no sense of self worth and couldn't tell that he'd been so badly hurt. Balthazar had brought these things to light and offered a shoulder to cry on.

It was much more than that of course, he was like Castiel's private therapist and he wasn't really sure how it happened. Regardless, Balthazar was well aware that his position in Castiel's life was never to be his boyfriend or lover; it was to be his friend and the person to help glue him back together. This also meant that he was allowed to meddle with things in Castiel's life if he thought it would help.

Dean hadn't had an answer for the 'what is it to him' what Balthazar is to Castiel, he only had one thing to say, "I want to know."

"If you must know, I know Castiel in the most intimate of ways." Balthazar put on his sly expression and gave a slight raise in his eyebrows, just enough to get the desired effect.

"You're his boyfriend?" Sam asked innocently.

"As much as I'd like to lie and say I am, he'd be furious." Balthazar shrugged, "But Cas has changed a lot in the last two years, experience being a big part of that."

"Experience with what?" Dean frowned though he couldn't hide how curious he was.

"Cas is a bit of a slut, I'm afraid." Balthazar knew they were cruel words but he had to know what reaction it'd get, the sleazy, horny one that Cas expected or something much more impassioned. His question was answered swiftly when Dean's fist met his gut. Balthazar hunched forward, out of breath though he'd been hit before so it wasn't a new feeling to him.

"Don't you dare call him that." Dean snarled in his ear, leaning back to look him in the eye. "Castiel is entitled to do whatever he likes and whoever he likes, just like you, just like me and anyone else. If you say anything like that about him again I swear I'll beat you."

"Not very friendly, are you?" Balthazar smiled a bit. "Relax, I was only kidding. Cas isn't like that at all, actually. He's very... Well I won't tell you."

Dean watched as the Englishman composed himself again, rubbing his stomach carefully. "What? He's very what?"

"Cas is still pretty hurt." Balthazar grabbed a bottle of cream soda and root beer, figuring some variety would be nice. Pepsi and Coke were overrated.

"Hurt? Physically or...?" Dean thought about the museum, those sharp eyes that he now remembered to be in some kind of pain, fear. "He's scared."

"Bingo." Balthazar smiled and headed for the counter, "Cas is frightened out of his mind, despite his little show at school."

"You heard about that?" Jet smirked, "That one douche he told off, didn't seem to be scared of sexual activities then."

"No, that's because people admire confidence. Cas is a natural actor, he can fake confidence like a pro. I know, I taught him how to." Balthazar shrugged with a light laugh, "It's the first step to gaining real confidence in yourself. He's still working on it; coming back to school here was one of the final steps. I've done a lot to help but he has to take some steps on his own."

Dean didn't know what to say, that gorgeous thing was scared? Those strong words, the way he stood up to Dean and seemed comfortable with himself, those were all fake? Or they were real but it took very little to revert Castiel back into his shell to hide. All that bullying... all the horrible things said and done to Cas had ruined him. Dean had a hand in dismantling another person and leaving them broken. He felt a sick churning in his gut as the thoughts pressed on his mind. "What can I do?"

"You? I don't know." Balthazar shook his head after paying for his items, "Cas is difficult to please and he's very complicated. I don't know what he wants from you. So I guess good luck."

Dean watched the Englishman walk away and shook his head, "Okay..."

"What?" Jet raised an eyebrow, not sure he totally understood. "What's the 'okay' for?"

"I have to try harder." Dean looked up at Jet with determination, "I have to do something differently. He's hurt, he's scared and it's my fault. I need to figure out how to show him I'm not a monster."

"You aren't a monster." Sam said after a moment, "Cas is pretty smart, I think he'll see that yet."

"Being brutalized by people really tends to shed a different light on situations, Sam." Jet shook his head, "He won't see it unless it's painted obviously right in front of him. Though I think it helps that you punched his friend."

"Not funny." Dean frowned.

"No seriously," Jet chuckled though he didn't mean to, "He wanted to get a reaction out of you so he pretended to call Cas a slut. You immediately punched him in the gut for it, I think he'll pass that little tid-bit on for you."

"He would if he wanted to help me out but I doubt he thinks he owes me any favours." Dean shrugged, "But I guess I can hope."

Sam nodded slowly and shook his head, "Wow. I guess karma really is a bitch."

Dean laughed, "Yeah, Sammy, it is. Don't you forget it, either."

"I don't think I'll have to worry, I'm not a jerk like you." Sam smirked at him and was promptly noogied for such a traitorous comment.


	14. Chapter 14

"He  _what_! ?" Castiel snapped.

"He defended you." Balthazar tried to reword the 'he punched me' thing he'd just said though the rage in Cas' face didn't dwindle.

"What, you made fun of me for a moment and he thought it was okay to hit you? No! That is not okay!" Cas paced his room furiously before Balthazar caught his arm.

"I'm sorry Cas, I had... now remember this was to get the reaction out of him, called you a slut and said you'd slept with guys all over Europe." Balthazar looked a little upset with himself for ever saying something like that, and he should, damn it! Cas wasn't a slut, whoring thing! Just because he was gay and had a tendency to be a bit flaming once in a while didn't mean he ran off to suck every cock he could get his mouth on!

Though that was Dean's reaction, wasn't it? He'd punched Balthazar to defend him... Cas shook his head and rubbed his eyes tiredly, "So... what did he say after that?"

"Basically a threat, a strongly worded threat." Balthazar chuckled, "I haven't been so afraid in my entire life."

Cas smacked his arm, "Seriously, what did he say?"

"He said I'd better not call you that again, that you're entitled to do whatever you want and if I say something like that again he'd beat me." Balthazar shrugged, "It wasn't so much what he said as the way he said it."

Cas sat down on his bed again and absently picked up his glass of cream soda, fingers tracing the ridged on the cup. "So... He..." What was he supposed to say to that? Oh boy! Dean likes me and defends my honour, better run to him like a school boy now!  _'Hell no.'_  Cas shook his head and downed the drink, "Whatever, that's one good thing I guess..."

"Just trying to help with your little 'show me your true colours' thing." Balthazar smiled, "He's doing fairly well, in my opinion."

"You think so? It's the end of day one; he's got until after school on Friday before I have to make a decision." Cas ran his hand up through his hair tiredly, "And really that decision is whether or not I'll even give him a chance to be a friend."

"You're thinking about thinking about it?" Balthazar laughed, "You are definitely gay, no one else can be this complicated."

"Shut up," Cas smiled, "Douche."

"Hey! I am not a douche!" Balthazar pretended to look completely offended by the accusation.

Cas snickered and smiled coyly, "I haven't seen proof telling me otherwise."

Balthazar smirked and downed the last of his root beer, moving toward Castiel, "Oh you're going to get it now, pretty boy."

Cas grabbed a pillow and threw it at his friend, "Back off, fiend!" he laughed.

* * *

Dean sat spinning his pen between his fingers, staring forward blankly at the wall as his homework refused to finish itself. Castiel was afraid. He was hurt and scared of everyone and everything that could do anything to him again. And why shouldn't he be scared? He was tied naked to a flagpole. He was hunted down and beaten up, even outside his own home. Things were thrown at him in school, people said awful and hurtful things over and over again, and he only had Garth and Chuck to lean on. Cas had been singled out and attacked numerous times and for what? Because he kissed Dean on the cheek, an innocent little thing that Dean now wished would happen more often.

What could he do to fix it between them? There would be no easy way to do it, no monster to slay, no simple task of rescuing Castiel from anything. He'd have to take the time and energy to prove to Cas he was worth it, that he had changed. Just... what? How?

He sat and thought for the rest of the night, not sure what he was going to do for the last few days of the week. Hopefully something drastic would happen that he could prove himself though he sincerely doubted it.

* * *

The next morning his alarm went off like a siren but Dean was ready to get up anyway. He flew out of bed and snatched up the best set of clothes he owned (the ones that made him look and feel a lot more confident). He had to find a way to impress Castiel. Dean brushed his teeth and jumped in the shower, scrubbing himself quickly and washing his hair. He paused and looked in the mirror before heading out, a hand brushing up through his wet hair to help the spikes a little. Dean gave himself another last once over before deciding it was good enough and hurrying out the door.

"Breakfast, Dean." Mary called when she heard his excited footsteps down the stairs.

He knew better than to scarf down breakfast, Mary put a lot of effort into that and he'd be damned if he gave her an excuse to get mad at him today. The morning felt like it dragged on until he was set free, booking it out the door while stuffing both lunches into his backpack. Normally he'd wait for Sam and they'd walk together but today he had too much energy, too much on his mind to not run. Today was day 2 of his 'test' with Castiel. Today he had to make an impression without seeming like he was trying to make an impression. He didn't want to get poked in the chest by an angry supermodel again, as nice as it was to have Cas standing that close.

As he closed in on the school he saw Balthazar's car driving away and wondered if Cas had gotten a ride to school that morning. He squinted and saw the slender frame of the other teen walking toward the school's entrance. Dean ran faster and started waving, "Hey! Cas!"

Castiel hesitated and looked over, as he got closer Dean could see the nervous way Cas shifted his weight. "What?" Castiel answered curtly, his jaw clenched tensely.

Dean caught up and inhaled sharply, trying to catch his breath, "Morning." He smiled at the unimpressed look on the raven haired boy's face. Cas raised an eyebrow as if waiting for more, for a greater purpose as to why Dean was hollering for his attention. Dean glanced at the school then back to Cas, "So... what're you doing here so early?"

"I wanted to talk to the principal about something," Cas muttered as he headed toward the doors again. "Some of my credits hadn't been transferred from Europe so I'm bringing him the paperwork to get it cleared up."

"Why so early?" Dean followed casually, trying to wipe sweat from his forehead inconspicuously.

"Because I'm a morning person." Cas bit out though it didn't sound totally convincing. He looked at Dean tiredly, "Do I need a reason to be up at this hour?"

"Well you'd be up at this hour anyway, getting ready and stuff but..." Dean watched the flare of anger in those baby blues and cleared his throat, "No, you don't need a reason, Cas." He relaxed when Castiel turned his fiery gaze back to the doors as he let himself into the school. "Hey," Dean caught Cas' arm as they walked into the front foyer before the second set of doors, just the two of them in the quiet space.

Castiel's arm had tensed when Dean's grip tightened on him, he flinched and pulled away violently, "What! ?"

"Can I take a guess as to why you came earlier?" Dean asked gently, trying not to anger Castiel any further.

Those blue eyes snapped back on him, Cas' brow furrowing and his jaw tightening further. As much as his expression said 'no, screw off' Dean could see the curiosity bubbling behind it. "Fine... Why do you think I'm here this early?"

"You wanted time to be yourself before class started." Dean offered, "Before everyone shows up and you have to put on a show."

Cas scoffed lightly and looked away, "Close," he smirked and walked into the school, "Except for the simple fact that the principal asked me to come in this early."

Dean stood in silence as he watched Cas disappear around the corner toward the principal's office. He stared at the empty space until his mind caught up with him and he beat himself in the forehead several times. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" He cursed mentally and hurried after Castiel, "Wait! Cas wait!"

Cas slowed down again and looked over his shoulder, he sighed and turned around fully, his arms crossing over his chest to signify how closed off attitude toward Dean. "Okay, now what is it?" His tone was a little softer though it still had the low growl to it.

"I just..." Dean could feel his face heating up and his fingers fidgeting, "I'm sure Balthazar talked to you..."

"He did." Cas said quickly, "Your point?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for hitting him. I went too far, I got mad at him for something and I shouldn't have hit him." Dean was worried, legitimately worried that his actions yesterday had gone over badly with Cas. He'd struck his friend from Europe; Cas had every right to be pissed off. Old colours were shining through, Dean thought. He'd reacted violently, that wouldn't reflect well on him.

Castiel stared at him, eyes flicking over Dean's paranoid and nervous stance, "You're..." he stopped and looked away, his face twisted in an expression Dean couldn't decipher. "You're sorry?"

"Yeah, I am." Dean nodded quickly, hoping the next words out of Cas' mouth weren't going to be 'not sorry enough!'

"Well you're lucky he's not really hurt." Cas muttered and glanced at Dean again before continuing down the hall to the office. He stopped with his hand on the doorframe and turned a little more fully, "And thank you." He offered a small, shy smile and disappeared into the school's office.

Dean felt a weight lift off him as he started to grin; he'd gotten a real smile for the first time since that time Cas kissed his cheek in freshman year. It felt good, he had to admit, and Cas' smiles were even cuter than he had imagined them to be. Little by little, he was sure; he'd get underneath that harsh barrier Castiel had erected.

* * *

The rest of that day stuttered by with absolutely nothing to help Dean prove himself and he could have killed something for it. The world hated him, he was pretty sure. He'd seen Sam in the hallway during break and the start of lunch, his hand happily enclosed by another guy his age, Gabriel's. Dean sighed, at least his little brother was doing things right and it all seemed to be working out.

He looked over at Castiel as the other teen tossed a few things back into his locker and pulled out a lunch bag of his own. Dean smiled, "So Cas, mind if I join you for lunch today?"

Castiel looked up briefly then back down at the paper bag in his hand as the thought drifted through his mind slowly. Dean wished he could get inside that head, figure out the little complexities and get past them. And yet that very thought is probably what prevented it. Cas wasn't the type to have 'little complexities', like Balthazar had said, Cas himself was a very complex individual and after the torment he'd gone through his complications would only have gotten deeper. Dean crossed his fingers in the hopes of a yes though he honestly anticipated the flat 'no' that seemed so obvious in Cas' features.

"It's okay if you want to say no-"

"If it were as simple as a straight 'no' don't you think I would have said it?" Cas snapped as he closed his locker and clicked it shut with an angry motion.

Touchy. Of course. Dean lifted his hands in surrender, "I'm sorry?"

"For what? Don't throw out meaningless apologies like they're nothing!" Cas started to walk away with renewed frustration in his step, something that only Dean seemed to receive. Cas had never taken that tone with anyone else, even the bullies who had picked on him in the past. Dean was starting to wonder what he was doing wrong or if he was doing it right.

Regardless, he ran after the other teen and caught his arm, turning him around abruptly. "I'm sorry because I'm making you uncomfortable. This year was supposed to be you facing the rest of your fears and finally getting past the things that were done to you, and somehow I feel like I'm ruining that." Dean had learned from his mom that over thinking things sometimes had a negative effect, on his personality type in particular. Sam could think as much as he wanted and often things would turn out better for him, but for Dean he always managed to speak his mind and, more importantly, his heart when he just started talking without a thought. "I'm sorry I'm the reason you struggle to get out of bed in the mornings, I'm sorry you hate me so much and I'm even more sorry that I ever gave you a reason to. I want to help you, Cas. If... if being away from me helps more then I'll stop bugging you, even though I really, really want to make things up to you."

Cas stared in silent awe, bright blue eyes widened and confused as all get out. "You... you'd do that? Even though you've been trying to get close so badly?"

"Yeah." Dean nodded, "I care about you, as much as you don't want to believe it and don't trust me. I want you to get better and I'll do whatever it takes to help." He let go of Cas' arm and smiled a little sadly, "So I'll see you around, 'kay?" He turned and started walking, feeling a sinking lump in his chest. A light throb pulsed in his upper body and stung at the back of his eyes, he couldn't believe he was just going to give up like that, just let Castiel go like that. He wasn't lying, he wanted to help but he also felt a soft spot for Castiel more than he ever would admit at that moment.  _'Goodbye, Cas...'_  He thought dismally, just before a hand gently touched his arm.

Dean turned back, his eyes red and glistening, to see Castiel staring up at him with a softened expression and a small smile curling the corners of that perfect mouth. "Dean, wait."

Dean sniffled and rubbed his eyes quickly, feeling pretty stupid. It had been two days. Just  _two_  days and he was acting like this because he couldn't see Cas anymore? Big freaking baby. "Yeah?" He tried to sound as composed as possible.

"I... I've been hard on you. I'll give you a chance." Cas let go of his arm and curled his fingers around his ear as if he had hair long enough to adjust that way, "So... did you want to join us for lunch?"

Dean laughed lightly, "You mean it?"

"Yes, please, join us." Cas smiled and glanced over at Garth and Chuck who nodded and shrugged their approvals respectfully.

"Can Jet?" Dean knew it was pushing it but what the hell? Jet was his best friend, he couldn't ditch the guy!

Cas looked at Jet who had been waiting quietly slightly down the hall, the taller teen waving a little as soon as someone bothered to look his direction. "I don't see why not." Cas said finally, "He seems a lot... he's different from what I remember, I think."

Jet smirked and walked over, "No worries, I'm surprised too." He joked, snatching the second lunch from Dean's hand. "So where to? Lunch room, outside, what?"

"Lunch room is fine," Cas nodded and started walking, Garth and Chuck trotting slightly ahead nearly keeping pace with Jet's long strides, Dean walking at Castiel's side completely content with being given the chance.

"Thank you, Cas." Dean said gently.

Castiel nodded and glanced at his used-to-be crush, "I don't know how I'd live with myself if I shunned the only person trying to make things right with me. I'm sorry I was so mean to you."

"You weren't, trust me." Dean smirked, "I deserved that and a lot more, so really, there's nothing for you to apologize about."

"Still, though..." Cas shrugged, "I should tell you we aren't friends yet, I've reconsidered my earlier judgement of never giving you a chance, that's all."

"So the 'you have until the end of the week' thing was just you pretending?" Dean asked with a stupid grin on his face, still completely happy with how things had turned out.

"Basically." Cas looked at him sheepishly, the cutest thing Dean had seen all day, like a kid who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"It's fine, I'm glad I could change your mind at all." Dean laughed, "I can't wait to get to know you, the real you."

Cas turned back toward the cafeteria as they approached and chuckled, "Well good luck with that, it takes a bit more than a tearful exit speech to get that."

Dean snickered and smiled wildly, nothing could dampen his mood, not now anyway. He'd just been given a shot at impressing Castiel, a real shot without a fake smile for Cas to hide behind and pretend that the chance was real. Dean knew that if he worked harder at it he'd manage to achieve what he was looking for, just a little harder.


	15. Chapter 15

"Tonight we burn it all, get hot get tall. Yeah we're lighter than air! You've got the key to your release so pop that lock until you're lighter than air." Cas half sang to himself as he unloaded his lunch onto the table, tossing something to Garth and Chuck as he came across things he'd promised them the other day. A slight sway of his hips and bob of his head as he hummed the rest of the song to himself, he glanced at Dean briefly before sitting, noticing the other teen's eyes on him,  _glued_  to him.  _'That boy's got it for me pretty bad.'_ He chuckled quietly and sat down in his chair and looked up at Garth and Chuck particularly. "So Jo says that I'm still the only one in the running for president, what do you guys think?"

"I think it's kind of awesome," Garth smiled wide; "I mean you've done stuff like this before in England so it shouldn't be any harder here. Plus Chuck and I get all the benefits you do."

"Not necessarily true," Cas smirked, "Though I suppose to an extent, assuming you guys help me out."

"You know we will." Chuck smiled nervously, glancing at Dean and Jet every now and then as if they'd reach out and smack his face into the table or something. Jet looked back at him as he quickly nommed down a sandwich, a motion that reminded Cas of an animal that was concerned something much larger was behind it and ready to steal its food. Either Jet ate like that on purpose because he was a pig or he'd been worked into the habit of it. Regardless it was kind of concerning to think that something bigger would be after a guy as tough as Jet to steal his food. What the hell would be stupid enough to steal Jet's food, of all people?

"In that case," Cas' fingers delicately traced a container of chocolate pudding, sliding along the ridge as he nipped at his bottom lip thoughtfully, "Mind giving a little help here? I'm pretty sure I'm going to be president so that means I have to come up with a student council kick-off. Any ideas on a good event that people might be interested in?"

Garth paused and tapped his chin carefully, "Well... hm..."

"What about a talent show?" Dean offered, all heads turning toward him.

Cas inherently wanted to shoot the idea down though he had to stop and wonder about it, sounded like it would not only assist in his 'I need a kick-off' problem but also allow him an opportunity to show off a little. "Isn't that more of a lunch time activity?" Jet asked after everyone seemed to be pretty quiet about it. "I don't think we can get enough people interested in it."

"Then we just do what we usually do," Dean laughed.

Jet glanced at the other three for a moment before looking back at Dean inquisitively, "...Threaten them?"

Cas snorted and laughed, "You seriously threaten people to join school activities?"

Jet shrugged, "Not yet, if you get what I mean."

"No! No threatening." Cas smacked the larger teen's arm, mentally freaking out along the lines of  _'I just hit JET'S arm! I'm dead. I'm dead, that's it, he's gonna kill me.'_

"Alright, alright." Jet smiled, something that Cas had to admit was a nice thing to see, it was a handsome smile as always. Why were Dean and Jet so fucking attractive? It wasn't fair.

' _Ah, but who's ass does Dean keep staring at? That's right, mine.'_  He thought to cheer himself up a little bit. "Right, so I like the idea of a talent show." Cas looked at Dean with a smile, "We need to make winning it worth it, you know?"

"Right," Dean grinned, "Like... say winner gets to date Jet."

"I think we'll lose candidates." Cas laughed, getting a returned light smack to his arm from Jet.

"Watch it, pretty boy." Jet joked playfully.

Cas smiled a little and looked back down at his lunch, opening the pudding pack and frowning when the foil-esque covering tore in several places, leaving random bits stretched across the top of it. "Oh come on!" He shouted, startling the others a little as he picked at the remaining pieces of lid. "This is bullshit..." He grumbled.

Dean cracked up and started laughing, snickering and giggling at Cas' misfortune. Garth caught the laughing bug and joined in, pointing and laughing at the stupid pudding lid mishap. Cas glared at them both but couldn't help a chuckle as well, "I thought these kinds of things didn't happen in senior year, damn it!" He cursed, helping the joke along a bit. It felt good; even though they were laughing at him it didn't feel... like it meant any harm. Like when he laughed at Chuck every time a pop bottle fizzed over when he opened it, or when Garth tried to demonstrate how awesome he was and fell over in the middle of it. It was nice to have Dean laughing with them like that.

"Seriously though," Jet interjected after a moment, "Gonna need a little more than 'talent show' for half an hour in the gym. Making it worth something is a good idea but I think we can do better than just that."

Cas was again surprised, he remembered Dean and Jet, Jet especially, to be jerks and people who generally didn't help with the conversation or coming up with ideas. He knew pretty well because he'd had to do group work with them in the past. Generally they just sat there and waited for someone else to come up with the idea. Now here they were, with the basis of Dean's idea and Jet trying to egg them on and continue brain storming.

"What if we did several team related things throughout the day?" Jet offered after a moment, "I mean each class could be a team, there could be a general prize for each grade but I think there should be a big one for the winner of all the high school classes."

Cas nodded thoughtfully, "I get it. Like there are a bunch of activities throughout the day, each student is part of a team which is their homeroom class. The teams earn points by winning events and the final winner gets the big prize. But you want there to be more than one prize?"

"Right," Jet nodded with a smile, "Like every grade is pitted against one another so it's a little more even but I think even putting the grades up against one another could be interesting too, gives the little ones a chance to show their stuff."

"I like it." Cas looked at the others, "So what kinds of activities do you think we should do?"

"Well since it's school there should be some kind of trivia thing," Garth offered, "Teachers would be all over that. And also something physical, like a relay race, hand off the baton to the next guy and so on."

"Relay race would probably be a better physical activity," Dean laughed, "I mean we can't exactly get several games of football going and hope chaos doesn't ensue."

"Musical chairs," Chuck piped in, "A big game of musical chairs. It's fun, it's easy and quick."

"A pie eating contest." Dean added seriously, his face almost frighteningly so.

"Or milk drinking." Jet snickered, getting a violent reaction from Dean which made Cas laugh. Apparently they'd had bad experiences with milk drinking contests.

"Bobbing for apples." Chuck shrugged, "Or board game tournament. I think doing several activities at once would be good so people don't get bored of one station."

"I like that idea." Cas nodded. Over all he was surprised, their lunch hour was not only enjoyable but productive. He'd gotten to sit at the same lunch table with Dean, something he used to want more than anything, and he wasn't being mocked or ridiculed, just a good time. And he was happy to say that the rest of their day went about that well. He felt better, he felt  _a lot_  better, now that he wasn't stressing over what people thought of him, what Dean was thinking or going to do, he could just relax and enjoy himself. That's what youth was about, wasn't it? He figured he deserved a little fun once in a while.

* * *

The rest of that week had gone well though Dean hadn't gotten the chance to hang out with Castiel other than at school. It made sense though, they weren't technically friends yet. He waved good bye Friday afternoon, watching the adorable little bounce in Castiel's step as the other teen returned the gesture and jogged off toward his home. Dean figured that getting a ride from Balthazar every day was a little silly to expect.

Dean worked with John all evening, wondering in the back of his mind why Jet hadn't shown up yet. It was Friday evening, Jet usually showed up right away on Fridays. Dean watched the clock after the work was done, after dinner was served and as the others started going to bed. "I'm sure he's fine, Dean." Mary tried to reassure him, "Jet's a tough kid."

Dean wanted to nod and just go off to bed like it was nothing but that would be stupid and he knew it. "I have to go down there." He said and stood up, "I'll be back later, okay mom?"

She looked worried but nodded, "Take the car, okay?"

Dean smiled and kissed her cheek, "I'll be back before you know it."

That said he put his steel-toed boots on and hurried out the door. Pulling into Jet's neighbourhood at that hour on a weekend was probably the stupidest thing he'd done in a while but Dean had to check in on his friend, what else could he do really?

As Dean parked the Impala outside Jet's place he remembered why Jet told him numerous times to never come over, especially after dark and definitely not on a weekend. Regardless of the warnings Dean snuck up to the house's side and peered in a window. He flinched when he spotted a bloody stain on the carpet and a leg on the floor, the rest of the body curved around the corner into the kitchen area, a spot that Dean couldn't see. He frowned and went to kick the door open, flinching a second time when he watched it fly off its hinges. Apparently not a very tough door...

"Jet!" Dean called into the house as he walked in; knowing that he'd already announced himself with the door bit. He moved to the body on the floor and blinked a few times when he realized it was Jet's father, big, scary, mean and passed out. Dean looked at the bruises on the man's body and the gash on the side of his head. "Jet?" He called again though when he looked up into the kitchen he saw his friend sitting at the table quietly.

"Hey." Jet said simply.

Dean stood up and went to Jet's side, "Man, what the hell happened?" He cringed when he caught glimpses of the fresh bruises all along Jet's arm and the dark ones forming on his neck.

"Not much." Jet shrugged though clearly he was as shocked as Dean was. His brown eyes were wide and staring blankly down at his dad's form, waiting for it to get back up, just waiting for the fight to continue. Dean didn't really want to know what happened between them, he was pretty sure Jet had been strangled because the bruises on his neck were starting to look like hand prints.

"Let's get you home." Dean smiled and started pulling on Jet's hand, finding it disturbing how easy it was to move his friend. "Did you knock him out?"

"Yeah..." Jet muttered, "I... I won." He blinked a few times, "I beat him, I won."

"He's still alive, calm down." Dean could hear the slight panic in Jet's voice, "And also, man, you're turning 18 in a week. Almost time to get out anyway. Let's make it sooner and you can crash at my place."

"Yeah..." Jet followed obediently as Dean led him to the door and helped his trembling hands with his shoes.

' _He's really shaken up.'_  Dean thought dismally,  _'I've never seen him like this.'_  In all the times he'd caught Jet after a beating from his dad, a broken arm, fractured rib, and even a bullet wound in his shoulder, Jet never skipped a beat. He was always strong and walking out of the situation like it was nothing. He'd never beaten his dad in a fight before and the fact that he had apparently rattled him.  _'I guess when you take down the strongest, scariest thing in your life you have a hard time believing it.'_

Dean got Jet into the car and drove back home, wondering if a hospital might be a better choice. Then again he'd probably sooner see Jet diving out of the car before setting foot in a hospital. Dumbass. "So, got your homework for the weekend?" Dean asked lightly, smiling over at the expressionless passenger. "Jet?"

"Nah," Jet struggled to answer and shook his head, a hand coming up to his face and pinching the bridge of his nose, "Left it at school anyway."

"Oh," Dean shrugged and tried to think of something to help fix Jet a little better than a stupid conversation about school. "Jet-" he started with a sympathetic tone and was promptly cut off.

"No." Jet looked at him, his brow furrowing now and though his voice was a little shaky he sounded a little like himself again, "Don't, Dean. Just don't."

"Jet, you have to talk about it." Dean pushed it, knowing what the answer would be.

"I haven't talked about it before and I'm not starting now." Jet snapped, "You finding out was different but..." He lowered his gaze as if he were looking down at an unconscious body left bleeding on the floor. "He just... It just fucking came out of nowhere." Jet tried squeezing his eyes shut to stop any kind of emotion from pouring out of them.

"Your dad, you mean?" Dean asked softly.

"No, the fucking tooth fairy!" Jet growled.

"Sorry," Dean decidedly drove around town a little bit before going home, he needed to keep Jet talking about it. "So when did he come at you?"

"As soon as I got home. I walked in the door, took my shoes off and then he was right there. He..." Jet reached up toward his throat, fingers trembling as he touched it gently, "He grabbed me and squeezed... It was more than just hating me, wishing I was gone, he wanted me dead. I've never seen him so mad... I don't..." He squeezed his hands into fists and unclenched again after a second or two, "I blacked out and woke up on the floor in the living room, he was right there on the couch, like he always was, like nothing had happened. Like he hadn't tried to kill me just then... I don't know why he didn't." Jet choked on a sob which made Dean turn his head. Jet never cried,  _ever._  He pulled over immediately and shifted to Jet's side and gave his friend the same hug Jet gave him every time he cried over something. Strong, caring, and silent, not letting go even though the other guy struggled against it.

Dean spent that weekend taking care of Jet and for the first time in the last couple of days he didn't think about Castiel. Well, not as much. Cas crossed his mind time and again though he was too focused, along with the rest of his family. Jet was one of them and damn it they were going to help him, even if he didn't ask for it or want it. That's just how Winchesters work.


	16. Chapter 16

Dean watched Jet quietly as Monday rolled around and the three of them, Sam included in it, walked to school. Jet hadn't been his usually animated self the entire time and the bruises on his neck were so vivid it hurt to look at them. Jet hadn't dressed them up like he usually would have or painted over them in some way; he just left them there to blatantly inform anyone who looked at him what had happened. Dean had wanted to offer to do it but he couldn't find it in himself to ask, to bring up the memory even though he knew it couldn't be buried that deep yet.

Mary had done her best to baby the miserable teen over the weekend; she'd broken down his 'tough guy wall' several times. It was good that she had, too. Dean had only seen Jet put that up once before and things hadn't gone over well when he did. People got hurt, innocent random people that suddenly set Jet off. After putting up a wall like that Jet would get angry, violently so and would end up being a danger to everyone around him, including himself. It was good that Mary put an end to it, but Dean didn't know how Jet would deal with it otherwise. That wall was kind of his only defence, what the hell was going to happen once they'd gotten to school?

As they approached the grounds Dean spotted Castiel walking up the opposite block and gave a short wave, receiving one in response. Obviously Cas wasn't all about running over and saying hi after the weekend, they weren't exactly friends yet, just on better terms than they had been. And though he knew Cas wouldn't, Dean had kinda hoped he still would.

They were close enough that several other students were around and spotted Jet's downed expression. At first they had made a note to be wary of it, no one messes with Jet when he's in a bad mood, no one smart anyway. However many of them had noticed the state he was in, basically looking like he'd been beaten. The general reaction was silent, no real reaction at all. They were all still assessing the nature of the bruises and what they could and could not get away with.

Their answer came a few seconds later. Someone lifted their drink and threw as hard as they could, the mess splashing all over Sam, hitting the teen in the stomach. "Queer!" Sam stood in shock for a moment along with Dean; both of their mouths open in surprise, Dean's gaze turning into a fiery glare as he looked to who had done it. He'd expected Jet to do something, say something, but his friend just kept walking. And for the first time Dean really thought he was broken, however Jet solemnly walked past the one douche who'd thrown the cup, his hand snapping out just before he passed the guy by completely and gripped his wrist.

"Hey! What the hell!" The guy exclaimed and started to cry out in pain as Jet twisted and squeezed, it was beginning to look like it was almost about to break.

Jet stood with his head angled down though he slowly turned a deadly gaze on the guy, "You even  _think_  about touching that kid I'll fucking kill you. Understand?"

The guy nodded and finally ran off when Jet let go of his wrist, a merciful move though not something that Cas was willing to let go. The dark haired teen caught that douchebag's other arm as he tried to flee and flung him to the ground, catching everyone by surprise. Castiel's entire body was tensed in a way Dean hadn't seen before, an anger flaring in those blue eyes that sparked something in his belly.

"You snivelling child." Cas snarled in a voice Dean knew had only been directed toward him until just then. "You closed minded, ignorant little thing! How dare you? To think you're better than someone else because they dared to chase something they want?" He knelt down on the guy's chest and grabbed the collar of his shirt to bend him upward so their faces could be a little closer, his good hand clenched in a fist at his side. "Someone is different than you in a way you can't accept and so you try to prove yourself better by throwing things at them, by bullying them. You disgust me and normally I'd keep it to myself but you... You deserve more than a fractured arm." He punched the guy in the face, a solid hit that received instant blood from the victim's nose.

Dean cleared his throat and looked down at Sam who was surprised beyond belief. Gabriel booked it across the parking lot and took Sam's hand in his, "You okay?" Dean raised an eyebrow but figured he'd let Sam's crush sort it out, moving on to Castiel's side.

"Cas, calm down." Dean touched Cas' shoulder and earning a moment of locked eye contact with those gorgeous blue orbs. Dean knelt next to the pissed teen and gently shifted him from the snivelling bully.

"Calm down?" Cas cooperated in getting off the guy's chest but wasn't calmed down any. "Did you see what he did? It starts with throwing!" He shouted but flinched when Dean's arm flexed and a fist went hurdling into the jackass' ribs. Cas blinked a few times in surprise when Dean relentlessly pummelled this jerk.

"That's for my little brother, you dumb fuck." Dean grunted and stood up, kicking the douche one more time and then reaching down to help Cas up.

"You... have quite the temper." Castiel said after taking Dean's hand in his, a feeling Dean couldn't get enough of, soft gentle hands with a decent grip.

"Yeah," Dean nodded after a moment and letting Cas go. "I... After everything that happened with you I never wanted to be that cruel again, to think the things I had or be that person. I couldn't stand it in myself and now I just can't stand it."

Cas smiled at that and it might have been Dean's ego but he could have sworn he saw a touch of pink in those gorgeous cheeks. "Look at us, bonding over beating someone up." Cas glanced over at Sam and headed in that direction. "Sam, are you alright?"

"Yeah," Sam smiled at Cas then back at Gabriel who had an intensely unimpressed expression aimed at the whimpering jackass on the ground. "Thanks, Cas."

"No problem." Castiel smiled warmly at him, "Remember, you aren't alone in this one okay? You've apparently got four people ready to kick the shit out of these ass-monkeys for you."

Sam nodded quickly and glanced down at his shirt for a moment. "Well that won't exactly get me a non-sticky t-shirt."

"I've got a gym shirt I haven't worn yet." Gabriel offered with a smile, "How about that?"

"Thanks Gabe." Sam smiled shyly and after a heartfelt goodbye (and another 'I'm fine') with Dean the two young ones disappeared inside.

Cas looked at the douchebag's friends who didn't move to defend the guy whatsoever, though that could have been the fact that Jet was still present and in some kind of creepy fucking mood. Cas' gaze drifted to Jet as the taller teen stood there absently, "What's wrong with him?" He asked softly as he approached Dean again.

"Just..." Dean wasn't sure how to answer that really, Cas wasn't technically part of the 'I'll tell you everything about my best friend's family life' grouping. "Trouble at home, that's all."

Cas looked saddened to hear that and nodded solemnly, "I... I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

"I'll let you know." Dean smiled sadly at him and hurried to Jet's side again.

Castiel watched with a new light shed on the two as they disappeared, Jet specifically. In junior high, middle school even, Jet was always a tyrant. A bully, a threat, and a mean little jerk. Always. He would punch you for making a noise he didn't like; if you said something remotely unfriendly toward him you'd regret it the rest of the month at least. Cas took one look at those bruises and that destroyed absent expression and suddenly everything made sense, years of knowing him and completely misjudging him were a lot clearer.

"Wow..." Cas sighed softly and shook his head. He had no idea what exactly had happened but to walk away with strangle markings on your neck, one's as strong and dark as Jet's, it couldn't have been a good thing and there was no way it was only a one time occurrence.

And then there was Dean, so soft hearted now, so defensive over his little brother, a boy about to go through the same nightmare that Cas had. Dean really had changed; almost nothing about him was the same... Well... there were still those plump, pouty lips and beautiful green eyes, but nothing was the same mentally. And for that, Cas was grateful. He smiled a little and headed inside, glad to finally see the beautiful colours of Dean Winchester.

* * *

The following few weeks trickled on that way, Jet didn't act any differently even though he lived on the couch in the Winchester home and received all the love from Mary and even John that he could have wanted. Dean didn't know what to do anymore. The quiet, silently angry side of Jet always scared him but so far nothing violent had occurred other than with the bully on that following Monday. Thankfully no other instances of bullying were apparent with Sam though once in a while he did mention he felt a little singled out. Dean wasn't too worried though, Sam was being singled out but he was being singled out with the guy he'd gone after. For Cas it hadn't been so lucky, Cas had been rejected by Dean and that's where it all went to hell in the first place.

Cas did seem a lot warmer toward him though, he didn't shoot down ideas or glare at him for glancing toward his ass once in a while. Dean hadn't been terribly surprised when Cas because the student council president, they'd already been brainstorming as if he had been so really there was little shock among their group. And Dean was glad that he could even call it 'their group'. Normally it was just him and Jet, mostly because despite how much people liked him they also didn't want to go near the school's worst bully. Jet had a reputation as a monster and there wasn't much Dean could do to wash that away. At least those ugly bruises had healed, if only Jet's state of mind would fix itself along with it.

Despite the trouble with Jet, the bit of drama with Sam, and the flurry of student council activities being planned, Dean still gathered the courage to ask Castiel over.

"You want me to come and hang out at your place?" Cas asked sceptically, always quick to assume the worst and Dean still couldn't blame him for that.

"Yeah, Jet'll be there and Sam too if he's not out with Gabriel." Dean smiled, "We could watch movies or something."

"Do you have video games?" Cas raised an eyebrow, a question Dean didn't really expect from Castiel.

"...You like video games?" Dean asked after a moment of thought.

"You don't?" It was Cas' turn to be surprised.

"No, no, I do. I've got a shelf or two full of 'em. I just... didn't peg you as the gaming type." Dean smiled pleasantly.

"Just full of surprises I guess." Cas shrugged and looked down at the content of his locker absently for a moment, "Alright." He finally said and looked up again, "When's good for you?"

"Well I'll text my mom but I think tonight should be fine." Dean grinned, trying to keep his excitement as low as he could though he was pretty sure he'd started to bounce up and down a little bit.

Castiel smiled, seemingly enjoying Dean's sudden giddy-ness. "I hope she says yes, this sounds like it could be fun."

Dean didn't hesitate any longer to pull his phone out and start sending the message to Mary, praying mentally that she wouldn't say 'ask your dad' or something like that, he already knew John's answer.

"So... is Jet talking to you?" Cas asked after a moment, his tone a little more serious.

Dean shook his head, "Not really, Jet doesn't talk about this kind of thing."

"Hm..." Cas crossed his arms and nodded, "Do you think maybe he'd mind sitting down with Balthazar for a little while?"

Dean stared at him for a second or two, "You think Balthazar could help?"

"He pretty much saved me and I was pretty torn up. I think he could at least do enough mending that Jet would feel better." Cas shifted uncomfortably, "I'm sorry, I told him about Jet's condition a couple of weeks ago and he said he'd like to try if Jet was up for it. I thought I'd wait and see if Jet could sort it out with you but it seems it's a bit more serious than that."

Dean nodded, "I think you should invite Balthazar to come with you tonight, it'll give him a reason to talk to Jet without Jet thinking it's us trying to get him in a therapy session."

"At this point I'd even want to see an explosion of anger from that guy," Cas shook his head, "I mean it's odd seeing him just sit there, you know?"

"More than you, I think." Dean sighed, "But thank you, I really appreciate that."

Cas nodded and glanced at Dean's phone when it lit up again. "So?"

"She says she can't wait." Dean smirked, figuring that Mary was probably setting up a million questions to ask the guy Dean briefly mentioned to her that he had a crush on. She was more than happy about Dean's interest in men and wanted to support her babies fully. Therefore she would embarrass the shit out of him, he was pretty sure.

Cas smiled and gathered his things for class, "Neither can I."


	17. Chapter 17

The bell went, finally. End of the day, Castiel was coming over. Dean knew that he'd spent all lunch hour with Cas but that was in a student council meeting, something he'd promised never to miss. It was nice that he was voted as the vice president though, gave him more alone time with Castiel than he'd originally thought he'd get.

Regardless he packed his things quickly and was about to head straight to the lockers to catch Cas when he remembered that it didn't matter how fast he was moving if Jet wasn't matching his pace. They were going to walk home together, obviously, so the slowest person set the speed. He glanced at Jet as the other teen quietly packed his bag, "Jet," Dean grabbed his arm and felt the way it tensed immediately but Jet didn't lash out at him. "Man, you can't keep going like this."

Jet looked at him and furrowed his brow then shook his head, "I can't." He muttered as he walked out the door.

Dean frowned but let it go; Balthazar would talk to Jet, that would help. Well, he hoped anyway. He walked out to the lockers where he watched Castiel in near slow motion, that smile on his face as he spoke to Garth and Chuck, giving them hugs goodbye. Dean smiled dorkishly, he knew it was darkish because he was seeing things in fucking  _slow-mo_! What other kind of person does that? Love-sick dorks, that's who.

"Dean," Castiel's smooth tone rolled into his ears and sent a shiver down his spine, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, just gotta wait for Jet and Sam." Dean smiled and hoped to god that it wasn't as dorky as he imagined it.

Cas returned the smile with his own and adjusted his bag on his shoulders, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. At first Dean thought ' _Oh god he's already bored!'_  But then he realized that Cas' face was twisted slightly in anxiety, those baby blues glancing and darting around nervously. "You okay?"

"Can I be honest?" Cas looked at him his brow creasing as he looked increasingly distressed, "I'm worried."

"About what?" Dean could have laughed at that.

"Just... I guess going over to your place. I mean I replay that stupid little kiss in my head and it all just-" He stopped completely when Dean tilted his jaw up and kissed him on the lips, a freaking bold move on Dean Winchester's part. Castiel's body tensed momentarily but the warm press of Dean's mouth on his, those soft lips encasing his own and just the feeling of being that close to someone, that intimate for just a few seconds was more than his teenage mind was able to decipher at the same time as his stupid fears. So he ignored the things that were making him tense, his limbs relaxing and he closed his eyes, leaning further into the kiss. It was out of nowhere, completely out of the blue and yet it felt right.

Dean broke it off but didn't pull his face away yet, just smiling down at the fluttering eyes of Castiel as the shorter teen tried to gather his words again. "How about you replay that kiss instead?"

Cas swallowed past a lump in his throat and nodded slowly, flabbergasted and surprised beyond words could say. He thought that if Dean had ever done that he'd be pissed, he'd hit him and scream at him and stomp away with some kind of fit. But no, that wasn't what he did at all. Cas found his mind back in the confusing whirlwind of high school, the confusing relationships and crushes he'd have on the most unlikely of people. And yet he knew where he was standing, who he was as a person and who it was that he'd just shared a passionate kiss with.

"You're serious..." Cas breathed, finding that it was difficult to remember to do so.

Dean could have fist-pumped he was so happy. Castiel was dumbstruck and  _blushing_  because of him, it was a victory and Dean tried to think of a way to celebrate it.  _'How about with another?'_  Figured pushing his luck might be a good idea, he hadn't made it this far by playing it safe. Dean's hand slid behind Castiel's head, fingers slipping under and through the soft black locks and gently leading Cas forward into another kiss, guiding him through it slowly until they need to take another breath. "Very."

Cas stared up at him dreamily for a second before quickly reprimanding himself for it and stepping back, "I think... Uh..." he glanced at all the eyes on them, people couldn't help but stare when there was a public show of affection, it was just in human nature. He cleared his throat and looked back at Dean's completely sure-of-himself expression and didn't know what to say.

"Hey." Jet walked over with his things and glanced at the two of them briefly before realizing what he'd just walked in on. "Ah..." he looked at Dean tiredly, "Should I find somewhere else to hang out tonight?"

"What! ?" Dean looked up and shook his head quickly, "No! Jet it's fine, tonight's just a hangout thing, don't worry about it."

Jet glanced at Cas again and shrugged, "If you say so." He started walking toward the exit and Dean slumped, rubbing his face.

"Gotta fix that guy."

"We will. Balthazar's more than happy to join us tonight." Cas smiled, finally finding his words again. He wasn't the same nerdy kid in freshman year, he had balls damn it and no random kiss from a pretty guy was going to make him lose his ability to speak. "Let's go, big boy." He pat Dean's arm and started following Jet.

"But Sam's still..." Dean glanced past Cas and saw his little brother already trekking toward the exit, "Ah... Well let's go then." He strolled after Cas, staying a little bit behind him to watch his favourite thing to watch, that ass in those jeans. He couldn't wait until other parts of Cas were his favourite thing, but until then he'd settle for the ass that made him want to be a sinner so badly. He licked his lips, his imagination flaring up and giving him a little mental preview of what it might look like to be behind Castiel with his face buried in his mattress.

"Dean?" Sam asked, waving a hand at him, "Earth to Dean."

"What?" Dean raised an eyebrow at Sam, "A guy's not allowed to ignore his little brother these days? What's the world coming to."

Sam rolled his eyes, "Just asking what you had planned for today, mom knows right? Dad too?"

"Not sure about dad but mom is totally psyched about it." Dean smiled, "Figured I got the go-ahead from one and so there's no need to ask the other."

"That's how it works." Cas smiled, "All children think the same way at that point. Did you guys also ask the other parent when the first one said no?"

"Always," Dean laughed, "Dad was pissed every time I did, too."

"I learned from Dean's stupidity for doing it so often," Sam smirked, "He got in so much trouble every time so I figured it wasn't a smart move. Instead I carefully planned out which one would be the best to ask in a given situation, most of the time it was mom."

"Mom's pretty lax." Dean nodded. "I guess I should have stopped going to dad first so often, huh?"

"Probably," Sam laughed.

Cas looked at Jet and smiled, "Did you do that with Dean's dad too?" He was being presumptuous, he knew that, but if he didn't assume anything there was no way he could ever speak to Jet in this state and that didn't sit right with him.

Jet looked at him briefly then back at the street ahead of them, his shoulders shrugging up a bit though it wasn't obvious to anyone unless they'd been looking for a yes or no answer. "I can't remember really. I usually just did stuff until someone said I wasn't allowed to. It's not like I needed to ask their permission to go out or anything."

"That doesn't mean you never asked." Cas said gently, "I just figured you might want in on the conversation is all."

Jet furrowed his brow as he thought about that, thought back on all the times he'd gone to the Winchester's house which was every night for the last several years. How John had been with him, had given him advice only an older man could give a teenager and steered him in the right direction numerous times. And then there was Mary... The mom he never got the chance to get to know. She was pretty much his mother, his eyes widened as he realized it. Mary Winchester had been his mom since day one and he had never gone so far as to return the courtesy to them.

"Jet!" Dean shouted when his friend suddenly bolted, long legs carrying him as fast they could. Dean almost ran after him but his arm was caught by Cas who shook his head. "But he-"

"Let him, okay? I think whatever it is he needs to handle it on his own." Cas let go and nodded determinedly, "If Jet needed you he would hang around you, right now he's going after what he thinks he needs so just let him."

Dean stared down at the serious (cutest serious) face he'd seen on Castiel, "When did you get all guru like?" He asked in amusement.

"When I decided to listen to Balthazar but actually hear what he had to say." Cas shrugged, "I mean I still think Jet could benefit from knowing Balthy so he's still coming over later, if that's cool."

"Totally fine." Dean smiled warmly and relaxed, Cas was probably right and so he'd trust him.

* * *

When they reached the Winchester residence they found Mary standing in the kitchen completely wrapped up in a hug from Jet, his arms tense to the point Dean could see veins on his forearms and was sure the ones on his biceps if he hadn't been wearing a t-shirt. She glanced at them from over his shoulder and smiled but didn't do much else than that, obviously whatever it was needed to be waited out.

Dean moved the others to the living room and smiled a little, "I guess he'll be okay."

"Looks like it." Sam nodded, "I'm glad, he was starting to scare me a bit."

"Well he was pretty surprised," Dean nodded, "His dad had never gone that far before."

"I think it was more the fact that he won, you know? Jet's not used to winning against his dad and now that he beat him I think the 'respect my dad because he scares me' attitude faded." Sam put his bag down and nodded thoughtfully, "Someone like Jet needs that kind of thing in his life, something to keep him grounded. I think he found it again though."

Cas was quiet as he lowered himself onto the nice couch, this home reminding him of his own. It was filled with the sense of 'family matters' and everything felt so cozy. He considered having both families together sometime; it might be a fun night. He looked up at Dean with a gentle expression, "Regardless what was bothering him, I think Jet's going to be just fine now."

Dean nodded and sat down with a long sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's over..." He glanced at the Play Station 3 and smirked, "So... what kind of game did you want to play?"

Cas looked at it and laughed, "Too bad Skyrim isn't a two player thing, I could totally kick your ass with my character."

Dean scoffed at him and pretended to be all offended for a moment but couldn't keep it up, "I haven't played it, so I'm pretty sure you would kick my ass."

"You haven't-" Cas stared at him, "No way! You have to play it! I'm lending it to you, or buying you one or something."

"Whatever you want." Dean hunted through the games whistling lightly, "What to play..."

"I have an idea." Sam walked over and grabbed Little Big Planet, "This one, it's four player capable."

Dean looked at Cas, then Sam and considered Jet in the other room. "Alright, fine. We'll play this girlie little game."

"I wanna hear you say that when it kicks your ass." Cas chuckled and grabbed one of the controllers, glad that the Winchesters were a 'four player games need extra controllers' type family.

"What's your obsession with my ass and it being kicked?" Dean mused playfully, snatching up his favourite controller before Sam could get a hold of it.

"Aside from the kicking, I could ask you the same thing." Castiel dropped himself onto the couch, not wanting to go all control freak and turn on his host's game station, it would be rude of him.

Sam set it up and wriggled himself next to Cas so Dean couldn't sit there, briefly sticking his tongue out at Dean before going back to the game set up. Dean frowned but sat next to Sam regardless, he was totally fine with not sitting right next to Cas, it meant that their time together later would be all that more precious.

Jet walked in as they started it up and customized their Sack Boys, he stood there quietly for a second before marching across the room, getting in the way of the TV and grabbing the last controller, "Fuck you guys, starting without me." He grinned and dropped onto the couch next to Dean, barely squeezing in. Four teenaged guys crunched together on the same piece of furniture, a sight that Mary had to grab the camera for.

All in all, the first part of their evening went very well. Dean died more often than the rest of them, or... well tied with Jet. They were too good at dragging one another to the pits of hell together. Several times they leaned forward at the same time in 'serious gamer mode' and tried to get past an obstacle or two. Overall Cas died the least amount of times but that could be because he'd played the game several times on his own and once for a few hours with Michael. Michael had never been much of a gamer and Balthazar generally refused to pick up a controller of any kind.

Mary moved into the living room and sat in her chair, happily working on some kind of craft thing she enjoyed while watching her boys rage at one another over whose fault it was that they just fell into some kind of miasma. She looked at Castiel who had just finished poking fun at Dean for dying so often in such a girlie game, "You play video games a lot, don't you?" She asked with a smile.

"It used to be one of the only things I did." Cas laughed, "Me and my games taking up the entertainment area of the house. Can't say my family was terribly impressed with it."

"I'm sure they were just glad you were keeping yourself busy." She replied kindly, trying not to laugh at the face that Dean and Jet were making at the back of Cas' head. "You boys play well together."

Cas glanced at the two larger teens behind him, catching the tail end of their dumbass faces as they tried to neutralize themselves before he saw. "Very funny," he grinned and looked back at the television, "You're just sore losers."

Sam stuck his tongue out in determination as he worked through the obstacles, also being one of the only ones who liked to play the game so he was better at than his brother and Jet. He had wanted to show Cas how good he was but at least he wasn't sucking as hardcore as Dean and Jet, that much he could be proud of.

"So are you staying for dinner?" Mary looked at Castiel again, very glad to see that the distraught boy who had broken a vase on her eldest's head seemed to be in much better spirits now.

"I assume so," Cas glanced at Dean who nodded quickly.

"Definitely, you gotta try my mom's cooking!" He exclaimed excitedly, "She makes the best pie."

"Is that a hint?" Mary chuckled, "Alright, alright. I'll go tell John to bring back the ingredients I need." She got up and went to make the phone call, going around behind the couch so as not to get in the way of the teens and their game.

"I'm glad I came." Cas said after they ran out of re-spawns.

"Likewise," Dean shared a short, adorable moment with Cas as they looked at one another, at least until Jet smacked the back of his head. "Ow! Dude what the hell?"

"Eyes on the game, dumbass! It's your fault we keep dying!" Jet tweaked him in the forehead to add the last of the injury with the insult.

"Asshole! I wouldn't die so often if you didn't grab my character and drag me down with you!"

Sam and Cas exchanged a glance as the other two bitched each other out and neither could stifle their laughter. It felt right to be here with them, in this little family setting. Castiel enjoyed Mary's company, Jet would always be with the Winchesters, and Sam of course would always be there as well. It was comfortable and for once Cas didn't want to go home right away. During his first visits to someone's house he usually ended up glancing at the clock every few minutes wondering when it was a good and not rude time to head home.

"Next time we do this," Cas spoke loud enough to catch the arguers' attention, "Garth and Chuck are invited."

"Definitely," Dean smirked, "I want to watch a movie with both of them, Chuck because he'd be fun to scare during a horror flick and Garth in general because I bet he's hilarious."

"You're right on both counts." Cas laughed, "And Chuck's too easy with horror movies, you're only a master at scaring him if you manage to do it during a romantic comedy."

"How did you do that?" Dean raised an eyebrow, very amused.

"I had asked Michael to come in dressed in a psycho outfit and chase us around a bit. Chuck fainted right away so really there was no chasing but it was funny."

"Wait," Jet put his hand up after pausing the game, "Hold up, you guys sat and watched a romantic comedy together?"

"Yeah," Cas raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Jet laughed, "Damn, you guys really are best friends."

"Damn right." Cas puffed up his chest at that, something Dean took the opportunity to smack with the palm of his hand, forcing Castiel to exhale any air he'd been trying to hold. "Ah, bastard."

Dean grinned and shrugged, "You basically asked for it."

Cas smirked and shrugged, "I guess, if that's what you got out of it."

"What do you mean?" Dean's machismo lowered in his curiosity.

"Well some people might have gone for my nipples but you go for beating me in the chest right away, whatever. To each his own."

"I could still go for your nipples-" Dean was shoved off the couch by Jet and Sam at the same time both of them shouting the same thing.

" _NO!"_

Cas giggled, "Guess you've been told, soulja boy."

"Oh you're going to get it, we're gonna change to a two player fighting game and you're gonna get it." Dean threatened playfully as he moved to the PS3.

"Bring it on, Tintin." Cas grinned.


	18. Chapter 18

The doorbell rang and Mary moved to open it, she hadn't wanted to interrupt the boys and their 'hate spree' as Jet kept putting it, but she still wanted to talk to Castiel. Hopefully the excitement would die down by dinner time. She opened the door to see a short-haired blond young man in a low cut v-neck shirt. "Hello?"

"Yes, hello. Is this the Winchester residence?"

Cas paused the game and looked at Dean who promptly got up and trotted over to the door, "Hey, Balthy." Dean grinned which earned him a sarcastic smirk back.

"Oh, Dean you didn't tell me we'd have more guests." Mary looked at him sweetly though Dean could see the slight bit of anger that flared behind her eyes for a moment and felt great amounts of fear.

"Sorry, this is Balthazar, Cas' friend from England." Dean motioned toward the smiling pseudo-therapist in the doorway, "Balthazar, this is my mom."

"You're friends with Cas?" She asked as she shook the man's hand, her interest having been piqued at that. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Oh, yes of course." Balthazar walked in and removed his shoes, following Mary to the kitchen. He hadn't expected that but really he hadn't been expecting much at all to begin with so it was fine. Dean scratched the back of his head and shrugged, going back to the living room.

"Mom wanted to talk to him for a second."

"What?" Castiel raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh, "Why?"

"Something about you, I guess." Dean shrugged and sat down, picking up the controller again. "Probably not a big deal."

"She wants to ask Balthazar about  _me_?" Cas emphasized his brow furrowed oddly, "What on earth would she ask him?"

"No idea, unpause already." Dean reached for Cas' controller which the other teen swiftly moved away from him.

"In a hurry to lose, huh?"

"Shut up and unpause it." Dean frowned, Castiel chuckling at his angered expression.

Mary sat down at the table after offering a seat to the Englishman and paused before saying anything at all. "What's your relationship with Castiel, exactly?"

"Friend, mostly." Balthazar smiled, "I assume you're worried about something?"

"Well I wanted to see if Dean was barking up the wrong tree, he has a tendency to not check these things out first when he likes someone." She replied with a shrug, "So are you and Cas-"

"Not at all." Balthazar shook his head, "I thought once, maybe. We were close to it but I realized that it'd ruin more than it would build, so I didn't bother. I'm glad I didn't, too. He needed a friend more than a lover. And not just a regular friend, an older one who already knew a thing or two. Cas was quite the mess when I met him, your Dean had been one cruel boy."

Mary nodded, "I was aware of a little bit of it but before the Novak family moved away I had no idea what kind of state Castiel was in. He was beaten so badly, broken arm and who knows what else. I'm not an idiot; I can tell what it looks like when someone's a victim of an accident or a cruel hate crime. He's doing alright now?"

"Yes, I'm sure he'll be delighted that you were concerned at all." Balthazar smiled again, "He's gotten a lot further now than he had been and by the looks of it he's starting to really enjoy himself. I'm glad, too because even though I taught him things he still had a hard time believing it. Cas is one hell of an actor though, he can fake it with the best of them but lately it hasn't been like that. I'm finally seeing him do it naturally; it's nice to actually meet that little twerp for once."

Mary looked toward the living room, "I'm glad he's alright now. And such a cute boy, I'm pretty surprised."

"I'm not. I saw that little duck for what he was, and now look at that young swan, blooming with the best of them." Balthazar boasted proudly.

Mary chuckled at the reference, "You know, I read somewhere that swans only ever pick one partner for their entire lives."

Balthazar laughed, "Well we'll see, I'm not sure if Cas is quite  _that_  swan-like."

"I'd better let you go and join them, did Dean invite you over?"

"Sort of, it was to help with their friend Jet." He explained, "Though it looks like he's doing pretty well on his own."

"Well he's finally made a break through today and I'd say he's doing a lot better." Mary smiled and shrugged. "I think you'll like Jet." She decided after a moment, "You can't be more than a year or two older than him either."

"I'll be the judge of that," Balthazar chuckled, "But I think you're right, I get along with most people." He stood up and headed for the living room, not wanting to tell Mary that he'd already met Jet once earlier in the convenience store. That'd just be an awkward story to re-tell to a mother, he figured.

Cas looked up curiously after pausing the game again, "So... what'd she want?"

"Just to make sure I'm not some creepy pedophile, she was worried for little Sam, here." Balthazar joked and sat down in an available chair, "What are we playing?"

"Uh, well since you don't like video games I'd have to say nothing." Cas smiled and looked at the others, "We've been at this for a few hours, movie time?"

"Hell yes," Jet dropped the controller, pissed that he was losing to Cas in the first place. They were playing with the 'loser passes the controller to the next guy' rule, meaning whoever won got to keep playing... Castiel never had to pass it along. Ever. He was a freaking GOD at video games.

"Is there any way in which you are not perfect?" Dean looked at Cas as he turned the game off and ejected the disc.

Cas blushed and shrugged, "I'm sure there's something."

"He sings in the shower." Balthazar added with a grin. "Loudly."

Castiel stuck his tongue out at Balthazar though Dean piped in a little more seriously, "Any good at it?"

"I didn't say off key, did I?" The Englishman smiled, "No, no, he's a great singer actually. I might even pay for a concert some day... Maybe."

"Can I hear you sing?" Dean looked at Cas who shook his head quickly.

"Not yet, I'm not ready for you to hear me sing yet."

"C'mon, Cas." Jet smirked, "I've heard you mumble sing to yourself, that was good enough to be heard."

"That's just singing to myself for the sake of singing, Dean wants a show and I can't... I'm not ready yet." Cas shook his head again, his cheeks stained a deep red, his fingers fidgeting.

Dean was certain that if this were an anime he would have blood spurting out of his nose because Castiel was too damn cute for reality. Really?  _Really?_  He was nervous and embarrassed to put on a show for Dean, but he wanted to. Castiel wanted to put on a show for him! "Cas, when you are ready, I'll be all ears."

"And a dick, probably." Jet added lewdly, getting an elbow jabbed in his ribs for it. Jet doubled over and let out a much harsher groan than Dean thought should be connected with the amount of force he'd put behind that strike. It was nothing and yet Jet hissed like it hurt twice or three times as much. "Damn it!"

"What'd I do?" Dean turned around completely to face Jet, worried that he'd done extra damage where Jet's father had already done plenty. "Are you okay? Man, I'm sorry I-" He stopped when he watched the way Jet's shoulders trembled. "Jet?"

Jet leaned back laughing, "Dude! You really think it'd hurt that bad after two weeks! ?"

Dean frowned, "You dick! I really thought I hurt you!"

"You can't hurt me, asshole." Jet laughed and before he knew it Dean was throwing bits of popcorn his way.

"Douche!"

"Bitch."

Cas snickered for a moment and couldn't help how it turned into a full laughing fit, he tried to stop and say something but instead he just flopped over the side of the couch, holding his sides and shaking, trying so hard to breathe. It was an infectious laugh and caught Sam in its web, the younger Winchester giggling and attempting to keep it on a lower level than Cas but it was too fun to just let it out. Balthazar also tried to keep himself from laughing but he'd known Castiel long enough that when that giggle-train left the station that was it and it would be really too difficult to not laugh, it might even hurt, so he just went with it.

Dean and Jet, who had been swatting at one another and throwing bits of food, paused and looked at each other. Jet smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, Dean tried hard to not let that of all things get to him but in the end they both broke down laughing with the others.

"I'm home." John called as he walked in the door, glancing into the living room adjacent to the entrance and raised an eyebrow, "Okay... What did I miss?"

"First off," Mary went to kiss her husband as a greeting, "Dean invited Cas and his friend over, Jet's doing a lot better and I'd say overall the evening has been a success. How did drinking with the guys go?" She asked sweetly.

"Not too bad, watched the game at Bobby's, talked for a while, nothing major." John smiled and returned the kiss softly. "What's for dinner? I'm starved."

"Well since there's a minor party going on, I figured pizza was a good idea. That and pie for dessert, for some reason Dean wants his friends to try some." Mary shrugged as if she had no clue though everyone in that house was well aware of Dean's pie obsession.

"Sounds great," John smiled and walked off to his room, obviously it was shower time. In the meantime the boys managed to calm down a bit, at least before bickering over what movie to put in.

"Stop arguing, guys." Sam spoke in a hushed tone, "If you keep fighting over it mom's gonna pick."

Dean and Jet both froze and nodded, "Right..." Jet muttered.

"She always picks the worst stuff..." Dean shuddered, fully aware his mom used to be some kind of hippie.

"It can't be that bad, at least we'd have a decision made." Cas shrugged, "You can't say 'stop fighting' and suddenly everyone agrees on a title."

"Cas has a point." Balthazar smiled, "I suggest we watch my movie."

"No way, creep-fest." Jet snapped, "We aren't watching any of that touchy-feely crap!"

"The Princess Bride is a very satirical and witty movie," Balthazar sounded appalled at Jet's commentary, "It is not crap."

"I want to watch a dance movie," Cas pouted, an expression that almost won Dean over. Almost.

"Not gonna happen, gorgeous. Action flick, I want to see the Losers." Dean said decidedly, as if his choice was the one that would be picked hands down.

"As cool as that sounds, dude, I still wanna go for comedy." Jet argued, "The Hangover is freakin' awesome."

"And crude." Sam added, "Superhero movie."

"Like what?" Dean asked.

"The Avengers." Sam smiled and earned a glare from Dean.

"No way! You traitor, DC all the way. If we watch a superhero movie it's gonna be Batman." Dean swatted at Sam's head who managed to duck it.

"Actually," Cas spoke smoothly, "If dance movies are out then I would not mind watching a bunch of hot men run around in spandex."

"I heard Avengers was pretty good," Jet added, "Never had the time to go see it in theatres but hey, if you guys have got it..."

"I downloaded it last night," Sam smirked and whipped out his flash drive.

"Come on guys! That's a Marvel movie!" Dean protested, "I said I'd never watch it."

"Sorry sweetie, looks like you're out voted." Cas smiled and gave him a quick wink.

Dean pouted, "Doesn't mean I have to watch it..."

Cas looked a little hurt by that, Dean was certain it was one of those 'really good at faking it' things though. "Awe. Anything I can do to convince you to stay?"

Dean's mind flooded with a million dirty images of what Cas could do but he decided to stick to the subtle and cute ones. "Sit beside me?"

"Of course." Cas moved over when Sam stood up to put the flash drive into the PS3, his hand briefly touching Dean's though his face flushed red and he looked down at his lap nervously. He was good at the flirting game; he'd proven it time and time again in Europe. He and Balthazar had gone to many different places and Cas had way too much fun flirting with the guys on the nude beach. However he couldn't do it as well now, he kept getting antsy and worried. He wasn't so sure it was a fear of Dean, either. He'd gotten over a lot of those things though he still hated to think about them. So... what was it then? His crush on Dean?  _'I know we made out earlier... I know I liked it but... but... Oh my god...'_  He looked up at Dean again with wide eyes,  _'I still really like him.'_

"What's wrong?" Dean asked a little concerned after seeing such a 'deer in the headlights' look on Cas' face.

"I... I'll tell you later." Cas decided and smiled again, glancing at Balthazar who gave him a thumb's up.

"Cramped, can't sit here anymore." Jet complained, getting off the couch and sitting on the floor cross-legged, conveniently (and purposefully) giving Dean and Cas a little more room on the couch.

The movie started up and Dean had to admit, it was kind of awesome. Part way through he was excited and pretty into the film, granted he hadn't seen the movies leading up to it but after seeing how well put together this one was he made a mental note to check them out. Cas had seen it once before so he did his best not to ruin the best parts, still finding it fairly funny the second time through. It was filled with enough action that Dean was satisfied, had enough humour for Jet's amusement, all the main cast was hot as hell so Cas didn't complain and Sam was the one who picked it out to begin with. Balthazar shrugged and settled for the mass amounts of bromance going on to quench his need for a romance movie, that and Tony Stark was witty enough to cover the issue of intelligence in the movie.

Mary forced them to pause it half way through, not an easy task considering that meant mid-action. She set out plates and let them grab their own pizza, not one of the boys had eaten much other than the snacks and popcorn that afternoon so digging into the pizza supper was more than awesome for them. John joined the boys for the last half of the movie, pizza in hand and beer sitting next to him. Mary pulled up a chair and figured she'd get in on the superhero action, not upset that she did. After a few moments where there was some silence in the movie she huffed a sound of surprise.

"Wow, Captain America's pretty hot." She mused, getting a look from just about everyone present.

"I know, right?" Cas grinned.

Jet snickered, "I dunno guys, I think Thor's more my type. Dat hair."

Dean laughed, "Nope, Jet. Sorry man, I'm pretty sure you're more suited for the Hulk."

Everyone agreed on that part, Jet's anger management issues could be equated to the Hulk in many ways, aside from him turning into a giant green dude.

Pie was served and they happily enjoyed the end of the movie, not caring that it was already dark outside. The credits rolled and Sam fast forwarded to the ending spiel, everyone getting a minor kick out of it. "Good pick, Sammy." Dean smiled and ruffled his little brother's hair.

Sam laughed lightly, fixing the mess Dean made, "Thanks, I figured you'd like it."

"Damn, gotta watch that one again some time." Jet smirked.

"I'm gonna watch the leading in movies," Dean nodded, "Then watch that one again so it makes more sense."

Balthazar glanced at the time and smiled, "You know, after all the fun I do believe it's getting late."

Cas looked at him sadly, he'd wanted some more time to settle the things they said they'd settle, plus Mary still wanted to talk to him and it all felt too soon. "Uhm..." he looked over at Mary, feeling a little guilty for springing this on them so suddenly, "I don't suppose I could stay the night?"

Her face brightened though she did recall that the next day was school. "Why don't you ask your parents? I'm perfectly fine with it but you should check with them first."

"Of course, I just didn't want to bother them if you would say no." Cas smiled, "Thank you," he looked at Dean then, "I guess I should ask if it's okay with you?"

"You already know that you don't have to ask me, I'm totally glad to have you over." Dean managed to say evenly though his mind was stuck in complete shock and awe.  _'He wants to stay the night! ? Castiel wants to sleep over. Castiel wants to stay here longer... OH MY GOD THIS IS SO AWESOME!'_ He could honestly have fainted from the excitement as Cas called his parents.

"Hi mom," Cas said cheerily, "Yeah I am, it was great. In fact, actually I was wonder if I could stay the night?" He waited patiently as Amelia went to ask Jimmy though he was pretty sure the answer would be a yes. And just like he thought, "Thanks mom, I love you too. Have a good night." Cas hung up and looked at the Winchesters with a smile. "Looks like I'm staying over."


	19. Chapter 19

Jet walked inside after standing out on the front lawn with Balthazar as per the Englishman's request, the door clicked behind him and he leaned against it quietly as his gaze lingered absently on the floor. He shook his head with a soft laugh and looked over at John and Mary who were both sitting quietly in the living room. Standing out there for over an hour talking to Balthazar had probably become the strangest conversation he'd ever dared have. Normally he never talked about it, his dad, his late mom, any of it. But somehow this weirdo English guy managed to get it out of him in less than an hour.

" _You tricked me somehow, didn't you?"_  Jet had said, his brow furrowed though a slight smile was on his face.

" _Not at all, usually I find that when people feel the need to talk about something I can get it out of them easier. You weren't so easy, took an hour."_  Balthazar smirked and had walked toward his car.

" _How long did it take to get Cas to talk?"_  Jet asked after a moment.

" _Well he never really did."_  Balthazar shrugged,  _"I mean he tells me nearly everything that's going on and asks what he should do but he never really opened up all the way and told me what was eating at him. I guessed it, of course. It took me a few months to guess it though."_

" _He never just opened up and told you? Really?"_  Jet felt a small ball of nerves rolling in his gut at that thought.

" _Pretty much. He did, however, tell me he didn't trust people anymore, especially strangers. Took me forever to weasel into his closed off space. Anyway, ciao, have a good night Jet."_

" _Yeah, you too. And hey,"_ Jet caught Balthazar's attention before the other man left,  _"Thank you."_

" _My pleasure."_

With that Balthazar had gone, leaving Jet with a much clearer understanding of what his mind had circled around for so long. He looked at the two most important adults in his life, both of them just sitting and drinking coffee casually while watching night time television. He'd run into the house earlier that day and without an explanation had hugged Mary and refused to let her go, allowing himself to cry on her shoulder but not fully understanding why he thought he needed her. He knew he did, he knew that she was a replacement in his life for his own mom but he hadn't been aware of just how much. He was practically a Winchester, really.

Jet walked into the living room, knowing that Dean had Sam rushing about to help gather bedding and things for the sleep over, Cas had taken a convenient bathroom break and also wasn't in the room. "Hey," Jet spoke softly as he approached, easily getting John and Mary's attention. "I uh..." He rubbed the back of his head, fingers brushing through light brown hair in an effort to occupy his hands a little longer. "I wanted to thank you, for everything."

John exchanged a glance with Mary before speaking up again, "You're making it sound like you're going somewhere."

"Well I was actually going to ask you two something," Jet smiled and shrugged nervously, "Mind if I call you guys mom and dad?"

John smiled instantly and Mary hurried across the room to give Jet a hug, "Of course you can, sweetie."

Jet visibly relaxed, dropping his head to rest against hers, "Thank you."

John stood as well and moved to hug them both, a very sweet sight for Castiel who was quietly drying his hands on his pants. He took that moment to trot up the stairs and peek in on Sam and Dean, the latter sitting with his face dropped into his open palms while the former pat him supportively on the back.

"What's up?" Cas asked as he walked in, Dean's head snapping up at the sound of his voice.

"Well we don't really have anything for guests... I mean Jet usually sleeps on the couch so I don't really..." Dean sighed and hung his head again, "I could drive you home if you wanted."

Cas walked over to the brothers, looked down at the floor that clearly had everything tossed aside very suddenly and hidden under every crevice it could have been. Clearly Dean never expected him to say yes to coming over, and definitely didn't see the 'sleepover' bit coming. "Well," Castiel shrugged and walked over to an open end of the bed and crawled onto it, rolling over and staring up at the ceiling.  _'This is what Dean stares at when he can't sleep... or...'_  He turned his head to the side to look at the wall,  _'This. Or maybe...'_  He looked the other direction and spotted a printed picture. It was of him from the first day back to school, he knew because of the outfit and the way he'd worn it that day (everything that morning had been a hellish 'NOTHING IS GOOD ENOUGH' rampage).

Dean followed his gaze and turned white as a sheet, "Uh... I can explain that."

"I don't think you need to." Cas snickered and looked back up at the ceiling, "A bit awkward, no?"

Sam looked and tried hard not to laugh, promptly being shoved by Dean, "Shut up, Sammy."

"I'll leave you alone on this one." Sam chuckled and walked out, taking out his cell phone (yes, a fourteen year old has a cell phone – spoiled brat). Dean made a face after his little brother's exit and then looked at Castiel again, the gorgeous teen stretched out elegantly on his bed like some kind of cat. "So... ride home?"

"Do you want me to leave?" Cas looked up curiously. "I said I want to stay the night, why do you keep offering me a ride?"

"Well... I mean I'm pretty sure you don't want to sleep on the floor, since you're in my bed. And after you saw  _that_  I figured you might be mad at me." Dean shrugged, "So I'm wrong?"

Cas hummed lightly in thought and looked at Dean with playful blue eyes, "I don't know, what do you think?"

Dean's gaze raked over Castiel's splayed out form, his stomach exposed just enough to tease but not blatantly show off, his arms stretched up and over his head comfortably and his legs gracefully crossed. "Uh..." Dean felt a heat creeping into his cheeks and couldn't help but stare, "I think you want to sleep in my bed."

"Bingo." Cas smiled and sat upright, his eyes remaining locked on Dean's.

"So, I guess I'll find some stuff for the floor for myself." Dean started to get up when Cas caught his arm and dragged him back down, mashing their lips together as soon as Dean was close enough. Dean mumbled into the kiss but stopped trying to speak after a few seconds, closing his eyes and enjoying the heat spreading between them. Castiel's tongue, thick and wet wriggled past his lips and pushed his own around to initiate a little bit of play. Dean moaned softly into the kiss and took Cas up on the invitation, pressing and fighting against the other teen's tongue until he managed to force it back to where it had come from. At first Cas grunted in complaint but that ended quickly when Dean demonstrated dominance over his mouth by shoving his own tongue inside, sweeping over every dip and curve Cas' moist and hot oral cavity had to offer. Dean didn't stop until he tasted all of Castiel's mouth, his partner's hands sliding up his biceps and onto his shoulders, clinging to him in slight desperation and need.

"Cas," Dean wheezed when they finally stopped to regain proper air supply, "You're gorgeous," his hand dared to cup Castiel's cheek and tilt the other teen's head to stare into eager, expecting eyes. "I've done things to you personally that I regret more than anything else, and if I could go back to freshman year to that time that you kissed me," he swallowed, finding that he wasn't nervous at all while taking in Cas' hopeful expression. "I would take you into my arms," Dean reached over and pulled Castiel closer until they were nearly wrapped up in each other, Cas' hands never leaving his shoulders, "And I'd tell you exactly that, you're gorgeous. I'd tell you how amazing a person I realize you are, complex, funny, strong, and soft-hearted. Cas, I can't go back in time and fix my mistakes but would you... Please, will you go out with me?"

Castiel was breathless as he stared up into the prettiest green eyes, hearing words he'd only ever imagined in dreams. "Dean..." he watched the elated trusting expression on Dean's face falter as if he could barely hold up his confidence. Castiel could hear the niggling voice in his mind, the angry one that swore it would hate Dean Winchester forever; hate all of them for ever doing those things to him. But right now, right where he was wrapped in Dean's warm arms, where he could feel Dean's heart racing from where his fingers lingered by the teen's neck, Castiel was happy. And so he stomped that annoying childish voice out. "Yes, Dean I... I would love to."

Dean could have screamed, he was so happy. Instead he opted for another kiss, cradling the back of Castiel's head with a well trained trembling hand and carefully taking the time to ease into it, to show he cared through this simple action. It was more than hormones, it was more than trying to redeem himself, Dean really cared about Castiel, he wanted to hold him, keep him safe, secure and happy. After the slow, burning kiss stopped and Dean leaned back again he couldn't stop smiling, "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that."

Cas smiled back, his cheeks tinted beautifully in a blush that almost made him glow. He wrapped both arms around Dean's shoulders and pulled them together again in a hug, holding it for a little bit as Dean held him tightly. "I've been waiting for this." Cas whispered, his eyes watering. "I didn't think it would ever come but I..."

"It's okay," Dean could hear the shaking in Castiel's voice, he'd heard enough times before that he knew what it meant. "I've got you, Cas."

Castiel nodded and sniffled, "Thank you."

Dean felt the way Cas' body quivered, his arms sending tiny vibrations into Dean's back, his torso shaking enough to catch the senses in Dean's hands. He needed to hold Castiel tonight, as much as he wanted to do anything and everything else, unless Cas initiated it, Dean would have to cradle this poor, wounded thing. "I really like you, Cas." Dean whispered softly, gently stroking Castiel's back in a calming way, "If there's anything I can do for you, let me know okay?"

Castiel leaned back and nodded, his eyes reddened and puffy but a smile still graced his lips. "Okay." He kissed Dean again, a shaky little thing that spoke volumes for him. Dean could feel it in the way Castiel shifted, the subtlety in how he inched closer, clung a little stronger and kissed just a bit deeper. Dean could feel how Cas was thinking, how he was feeling. Castiel was nervous and frightened, feeling exposed and like an easy target, those Dean understood and knew where they were coming from. But there was one that he wanted to understand better, Cas trusted him, nearly blindly even in the face of all the things that had happened. It didn't seem like a conscious decision, either. It just... was.

"How are you feeling?" Dean asked after a moment of soft, slow kisses.

"I don't know," Cas picked his words carefully, "I'm... too excited to sleep, too tired to go and do anything else."

"How fast did you want to move?" Dean asked even more carefully than Cas seemed to be answering.

Castiel looked deeply into Dean's eyes and answered without hesitating or faltering, "If there has ever been a time for sex, it'd be now."

Dean was stunned, what had he just heard? "What?"

"Maybe it'd make more sense if I had said 'make love' instead of sex." Cas reiterated quickly, his face now darkening further with a hot red tint. "I want you to make love to me, Dean."

Dean blinked several times; he understood the difference between saying 'sex' and 'make love'. It was just surprising to hear a teenager say it, especially just after he was asked out. "You sure?"

Now Cas hesitated, "...You're not?"

"No, no, no! I definitely want to, Cas.  _Definitely_. I just want to make sure you're ready for that kind of thing." Dean tried to smooth over the issue quickly and elegantly though the look of hurt in Castiel's eyes had really gotten to him, luckily that expression lifted soon enough.

"I'm not sure but if you give me time to think about it I'm scared I'll chicken out, so..." Cas fidgeted, feeling a tight ball of nerves rolling up in his gut. "I... I just need you to..."

"I understand," Dean partially wanted to continue and watch the way Cas squirmed, embarrassed to be asking for it so obviously. "Then how about we get right to it?"

Cas smiled thankfully and shifted away from Dean to let him go and lock the door, his heart pounding heavily in his chest. He was going to do this. He was going to do this and he was going to enjoy it. It wouldn't be anything like that time in the museum... He suddenly hated himself for even considering it, his hands feeling somewhat sweaty as he clenched and unclenched them slowly. Dean turned around and saw the tenseness that had settled in his new boyfriend, "You okay?"

"I'm worried." Cas admitted and looked away, "It's stupid but I'm scared..."

Dean sat down slowly and reached over to pet Castiel's cheek soothingly, "Want to talk about it?"

Cas bit his bottom lip but nodded, "It's because after my first sexual encounter I was... it..."

"The museum?" Dean asked but he already knew.

Castiel nodded and couldn't stop the sob that rattled him, "It was so awful," he whined, voice cracking and breaking as his chest tightened. "They... they pulled me out by my hair and hit me, over and over they kept kicking me and beating on me and... and... I was so scared!" He rambled the explanation through tears as Dean pulled him back into his arms, resting Cas gently in his lap and holding him as tightly as he could. "It hurt so badly, they broke my glasses in my hand  _and_  my hand along with them and they just _wouldn't stop_." He curled up against Dean and cried harder, fingers catching the fabric of his boyfriend's shirt and gripping it tightly.

Dean rocked him gently, quietly listening and waiting for Cas to calm down a little more before saying anything. He just spent the next unknown amount of time softly kissing Castiel's head and cheek, waiting out the emotional fit. He thought about that day, walking into the bathroom and seeing the beaten down teen huddled against the sink counter for support, how he'd run away.  _Fucking coward._  "I'm so sorry, Cas." Dean whispered just as softly as he trailed kisses along the hurting teen's head, "I'm  _so_  sorry I didn't help you then..." he remembered the stupid feeling he'd associated with the sight and cursed the sadistic side of him that had reared up that day. Of all the stupid things a just-reached-puberty teenager could end up thinking about, of course it was something sexual. His mind hadn't been able to cope with the fact that he actually liked Castiel, that he actually had feelings in a decent way. He had said it out loud but everything he knew, everyone he bumped into, told him he couldn't fall for someone that fast, he couldn't feel anything like love for someone he hated so strongly just days before. And what they said made sense, life didn't just happen like that, but why couldn't it happen like that? Just this one time? No, he it made no sense so it must have been his stupid hormones.

Screw that! He'd liked Castiel for a long time but his mind had only given him a reason that day, a fucked up, screwed to hell reason that made less sense to him than actually just coming out and saying 'I like you too'. He liked Cas then and he likes Cas now, end of story.

Cas quieted down and relaxed a little though still curled up snugly in Dean's arms. "Dean..." he whispered hoarsely and looked up with big wet eyes, "I think..." he wiped his eyes and inhaled a little shakily though much stronger than before, "I need to wipe that memory clean, that can't be what I associate sex with for the rest of my life. Will you please help me?"

"Baby, I'll help you with anything you ask me to, even if it didn't mean getting to know you more intimately." Dean carefully lowered his fragile boyfriend to the bed and paused to appreciate how much he loved the way Castiel looked at him. "I'll take it slow, okay?"

Cas nodded and exhaled deeply, closing his eyes and trying to imagine how this should go. His mind whirled around the stupid little things that were bothering him, the things that scared him and tormented his mind. He decidedly ignored them, he was with Dean now, Dean who had changed so much in the last few years and would keep him safe. It was okay.

Dean licked his lips as he easily unbuttoned the jeans Cas was wearing, those seductive hip-huggers slipping away sooner than he had expected. Cas started pull off his shirt while Dean worked on his boxer-briefs, wanting nothing more than to distract himself as he found himself completely naked for the first time in front of a soon-to-be lover. Little goose-bumps prickled under his skin and he blushed deeply, eyes skittering up to Dean's and catching his gaze lingering on his face (A surprising thing, considering all Dean could do before was stare at his ass).

"Gorgeous." Dean breathed, his hands finally coming in contact with the smooth, soft flesh of Castiel's hips, trailing up and down his sides tentatively. Cas shuddered and started to relax a little, his legs unusually closer together to try to hide even just a little. Dean would have none of it, of course. His fingers trailed the subtle dip in Castiel's hip leading straight down to exactly what his boyfriend was trying to protect and shy away. His fingertips gently grazed the hardening muscle all the way to the swelling head, enjoying every little grunt and moan that escaped Castiel.

"Dean," Cas gasped breathlessly, his hips jerking upward and forcing a bit more friction, "Dean!" His excited little squeaks and gasps of Dean's name only made the larger teen feel even more flushed. He knew he'd be embarrassed by how fast this would go but he didn't care, Castiel was freaking  _hot_. Slender, smooth dips and curves making up his torso, gorgeous legs that were much easier to open than Dean had thought. Yep, Cas was all that he'd ever want.

After teasing Castiel so torturously, all the while subtly reaching for his bedside table and fishing out the lubricant for when he'd need it and putting down nearby, Dean gave his boyfriend's erection a good, solid stroke. Cas cried out and thrust upward into it for another, his hands up above his head and curled delicately into the fabric of Dean's sheets. Dean pushed his eager partner's hips back down, smiling at how the other teen squirmed and wriggled in complaint. "Shh," Dean hushed the upset grumblings coming from Castiel's direction. He removed his shirt then, quickly pulling his pants and underwear off to join Castiel in nakedness.

Cas looked up and let out a low whistle, smiling coyly at the shape of his partner, "You... you're pretty cut for a seventeen year old teenager."

Dean chuckled and lowered back between Castiel's legs, "Says the supermodel." He started trailing kisses down the same path his hands had taken originally, past Cas' waistline and decidedly along the surprisingly soft patch of pubic hair that Castiel kept very well. Dean was surprised a man's groin could look  _this_  good; Cas must have spent a lot of time grooming.

Dean's first instinct was to lick the length of Castiel, his tongue leaving a wet trail up the throbbing vein in Cas' cock, the smaller teen shuddering and moaning like the virgin he was, quietly pleading for more as his hips rocked up gently. Dean smiled and took all of Cas into his mouth, groaning at the feel of the blood-swollen weight on his tongue. The rumble in his throat had Castiel mewling, the muscles in his legs tense and, from Dean's vantage point, very detailed. He started the gentle sucking motion, slowly easing Castiel into the intense arousal he wanted him at. Dean had seen a lot of pornos but that wasn't enough to teach him anything, the things that helped were actually the different sexual documentaries, question and answer things involving this kind of thing. Granted Dean wasn't sure if he was doing it right but Cas sounded like he loved it so it couldn't be all that bad.

Cas was very preoccupied and Dean had the rhythm down well enough that he could fumble for the lubricant again, coating his fingers in the slick substance enough to insert one of his fingers easily. Of course this caught Castiel by surprise and pulled a long and appreciative cry from him, his body shuddering from all of the new feelings and sensitivities. Dean smiled a little and prodded at Cas' entrance expertly, having done this to himself on numerous accounts in the last few years. That's right, Dean wasn't afraid to admit it, he would bottom for a guy, for  _Cas_  specifically now.

Soon he had Castiel bucking down into three fingers to push them deeper then thrusting back up for more from Dean's shockingly impressive tongue skills. However Dean backed off, pulling his fingers out and leaving Cas empty and whimpering. "Dean..." Cas' big blue eye stared at him pleadingly, "I need more, please? Don't stop, don't stop yet." Dean nearly listened but shook his head, he had more will power than that, to just listen to his gorgeous  _boyfriend_  beg him, bah!

Dean slicked himself up, finding he was rock hard and not surprised in the least. Only hearing the way Castiel was loving the attention was good enough for him. A thought crossed his mind that he decided to keep to himself, since saying it would defeat the entire purpose. Cas had forgotten about his previous experience whilst in the middle of this one, too worked up and horny to really bother with the traumatizing memories. "Ready?"

Cas nodded quickly, spreading his legs completely open for Dean, "Oh please, please, please do." He groaned eagerly, his toes curling from the thought.

Dean smiled at how adorable his boyfriend was, how lucky he was to have Castiel at all. It really was a miracle, a miracle that Castiel was so forgiving. Dean made a mental note to thank Cas' parents for raising their son in such a beautiful way. It was such a blessing.

Those thoughts aside, Dean pressed the tip of his dick to Cas' entrance and watched every second as he pushed inside, the way Castiel wriggled and how his eyes closed, mouth fell open and the hottest gasps of air escaped him. Dean groaned loudly as well, burying himself in the tight heated space within Castiel, every muscle in his partner's body tensing around him and relaxing slightly only to tense more as they both got used to the feeling. Dean gently rocked his hips forward, pushing further then pulling back repeatedly until Castiel could start to enjoy it further.

"It's... so much bigger than I thought." Cas muttered breathlessly.

"Thanks?" Dean smiled and snapped his hips forward suddenly, earning a sharp cry from his boyfriend.

"Again," Cas instructed still lacking air as he mumbled, "Again, again." Dean complied, finding Cas' child-like direction somehow even cuter in this situation. He thrust harder, deeper and then started to move a little more rapidly, eagerly fucking the tight hole leading into Castiel.

Cas threw his head back into the mattress and cried out expletives Dean didn't know that Cas knew, his hips bucking up to help the motion along. "Fuck!" he cursed more clearly, his hand desperately grabbing at his own cock and stroking it furiously. "Oh  _god_! Don't stop, baby, don't stop!"

Dean worked harder, even gladder that he'd done so much work for his dad, his physical stamina was incredible. However his sexual stamina was lacking pretty much everything a teenager usually did. Luckily for him Cas was just as easy. Dean grunted and shuddered into his orgasm, still trying to keep up the pace for Castiel who was spilling over onto his hand and nearly screaming for more, two strong ropes of cum splattering their chests with white that Dean promptly fell into with a resounding smack.

Both teens' chests heaved as they slipped back down from their highs, Castiel's legs squirming vaguely as his entire lower body tingled. So that's what anal sex was. He knew he'd like it but he wasn't prepared for how much he loved it. Dean was spectacular for someone who hadn't had gay sex before, though that could just be the virgin in him talking. Oh wait, Cas smiled in realization, he wasn't a virgin anymore.

The smaller teen chuckled, a gravelly rumble that made Dean look up, "What's up?"

"You popped my cherry." Cas confessed though he was pretty sure Dean was aware of it.

Dean smirked and kissed his boyfriend passionately, tongues dancing playfully before he laid his head down again, "Yeah, guess I did."

Cas dropped his head onto the mattress and let the waves of tiredness roll him into a light sleep, he was sure he'd have to get up and shower, if the cum leaking down his ass crack was any indication. But he wasn't about to ignore sleep when it came to him either.


	20. Chapter 20

Jet's eyes lit up as he watched the news with John and Mary, his spot on the couch claimed and taken already. He stared at the TV as his ears burned for the noises upstairs. He glanced over at Mary who started to smile a little and then John whose face scrunched up a bit. "I think they're uh..." Jet motioned toward the stairs.

"Yes, they certainly are." Mary smirked though she tried hard not to.

John ran a hand tiredly down his face but said nothing else. At least, from the sound of it, he had accomplished what he meant to and Dean was the one on top.

Sam sat across the hall from the activity, every little sound he heard and he stared wide-eyed at the ceiling from his bed. What did they expect him to do with that? Just... sit there? It sounded interesting though he really didn't want to hear it; his brother was mixed up in that, causing those noises to come out of Castiel. And then again, he couldn't really hear Dean at all, just Cas, moaning, grunting and crying out without any thought for anyone else in the house. He had to admit, Castiel was very attractive and the noises he made were even more so, but all in all Sam did nothing but listen. Dean was still part of that and Sam would be damned if he considered doing anything.

Night had faded and a soft gleam of sunlight poured into Dean's bedroom, Castiel stirred a little then grimaced at the ache that thudded deep inside him. He opened his eyes slowly, remembering last night, how much he'd stretched himself open, how  _Dean_  had stretched him open. Cas smiled to himself and closed his eyes again, snuggling up a little closer and sighing softly, happy with how this had gone. He could feel prickles of nervousness rolling in and out of his system but he didn't want to address them in any way right at that moment. He was comfortable, he was wrapped in someone's arms, he was content. Of course, since he'd never gotten up to clean himself he was also a bit sticky, probably smelled hardcore like sex, and he could feel the dried and flaky remains of cum on his ass. But he'd take the bad with the good; those remnants were reminders of how great last night had been.

Cas could feel the dull sense of sleep swirling slowly in his mind, making his eyelids and limbs heavy. He hummed softly when a thought occurred to him, _'I wonder what time it is.'_  In that moment he realized that it was technically a school day. He tensed instantly and sat upright to find a clock, eyes wild after being shaken from their post-sleep state. He spotted the clock and stared blankly at it for several seconds, 9am. He thought about cursing and flying out of the room like he usually did when late but he glanced down at Dean, that snoring lump of cute slumbering next to him.

Dean was a heavy sleeper, he hadn't woken when Castiel sat up so abruptly and that was a bit of a surprise for the smaller teen but he decided it wasn't that big of a deal and lied back down. He didn't close his eyes for a bit, watching Dean quietly. The handsome shape of his face and hairline were only the basic parts of what made Dean pretty, his eyes with such long eyelashes could be those of a supermodel, and of course his lips, gently parted as he slept. Cas leaned in and kissed him softly, disrupting the even breathing pattern and causing his new boyfriend to snort back another snoring sound and fumble his disgruntled self back into the waking world.

Castiel giggled lightly, "Very attractive, Dean."

Dean blinked several times and stared at the gorgeous face of the teen laying next to him, those brilliant blue eyes trained on him and that angelic smile aimed at him. He didn't really know what Cas was talking about but he didn't care, waking up next to  _that_  was enough to make Dean's day the best one ever, well, aside from the previous night's activities. "Morning," Dean smiled and closed his eyes comfortably.

Castiel chuckled and kissed Dean again, earning a small surprised sound from the bigger teen before he returned it. They kissed slowly, their tongues lazily pressing at the other and slipping around in a comfortable daze. Cas shifted his weight and groaned a little from the dull throbbing that rolled up his spine from his punished ass. "You okay?" Dean asked softly, running a hand through Cas' messed up hair, still a great look for the recently blossomed-beauty.

"Yeah, just a bit sore." Cas smiled and leaned back, "Shower?"

"Definitely." Dean couldn't hide the sparkle in his eyes, he was about to shower for the first time with his new boyfriend. It was difficult to hide the bit of excitement in his movement as he pulled himself from the comfortable sheets and Castiel's arms. Cas groaned again when he sat up, glancing down at himself absently.

"Get over it," He muttered to himself, "Like you haven't put anything up there before."

Dean grinned, "You're adorable." He kissed Castiel's cheek and helped him up. They gathered their clothes and snuck down the hall after checking to see if it was clear. Cas felt a little silly covering himself with the bundles of his clothes as he hoped no one looked up the stairs at their naked butts sneaking across the second floor.

"You do that often?" Cas asked after Dean closed the bathroom door.

"What? Sneak across to the bathroom naked? No, not really." Dean chuckled, "I never know where Sam's hanging out and I'd rather not, you know, scar him for life."

Cas laughed and nodded, "Got it. Next time we clean up right after, I'm so sticky."

Dean looked down at his chest where Cas had made quite the mess yesterday, "Yeah... I don't mind but maybe I might when we switch places."

Castiel blushed at that and kissed him quickly, "I'm so glad that you're like that," he said sweetly, "I thought that I'd be stuck as a bottom, I mean I don't mind it either because I really enjoy it but it's nice to switch things up."

Dean smiled and went to turn the water on, "I was hoping we'd be able to switch it up, I get that my dad's really trying to enforce the 'I raised a man' thing but after I tried anal with a toy or two I uh... Can't say I didn't like it."

"You loved it, didn't you?" Cas nearly purred behind him, fingers gently slipping into a comfortable position around his waist.

Dean smiled and turned around, wrapping his arms around Castiel's shoulders and kissing him again, holding him there before taking the slow steps to take him into the shower stream. "Not as much as doing it with you, Cas."

Castiel smiled back though he could still feel the niggling voices somewhere in his head. He thought he'd stamped those out, though these ones were particularly different in several ways. It wasn't anger trying to make him step back, it was just a feeling, something was going to happen. He shook the thought away, what could possibly happen now? He was with Dean now; he was working toward his happy ending so why would his mind bother him so idiotically like that?

The two of them finally cleaned up, a bit of an awkward shuffle when they started to focus on getting there but eventually they figured out a decent plan and went with it. Cas towelled off and pulled on his clothes from the day before, carefully making his way toward the door, Dean right behind him. "Still sore?"

"Yeah," Cas answered softly but he smiled, glad that he was. It was a good reminder of what he'd just done, who he had become and how far he was from being that scared little nerd from a few years back. "It's good though, I like it."

"I'll be sure to remember that." Dean kissed his cheek and they went downstairs together, only once they reached the kitchen did Dean realize what time it was. "We're pretty late, huh?"

Mary looked at him and laughed, "Yes, just a bit. But I didn't want to wake you and Sam didn't want to go into your room."

"And Jet?" Dean asked as he sat down at the table, watching the way Mary shrugged.

"He woke up asked me if you were going to be going to school, I said probably not, and he went right back to the couch." She shook her head still laughing, "Said something along the lines of 'well then screw consciousness'."

"I say that," Dean smirked, "So then he's still on the couch?"

"Yeah though I doubt he's still asleep." Mary moved to start on breakfast for the two teens, "So Cas, now that I have a moment to talk to you, how have you been?"

"Pretty good, thank you." Cas lowered himself into the chair next to Dean's, wincing slightly, something that didn't go unnoticed by mother Winchester.

"I have ointment for that." She said as she readied the eggs, not a hint of embarrassment on her face.

Cas, on the other hand, turned a bright red and looked at Dean's shocked expression. "That... would be nice." Cas said after a moment of surprised silence, Mary trying her hardest not to giggle at their faces. She was a mom, been married for years; chances were pretty good she'd done things that the two teens hadn't even imagined yet.

"Alright, I'll go get it for you." Mary went off to the master bedroom and returned, handing the tube to Dean, a 'you better help him' look on her face.

Dean swallowed and looked at Cas, "Let's go do this while mom makes breakfast."

"Good idea." Cas stood again and they scampered back up the stairs. Mary snorted back a laugh though she couldn't help but lean on the counter and snicker at those two.

"Wow," Jet walked in, arms crossed over his chest as he glanced up the stairs in the room behind him. "That was... awkward as hell." He chuckled and sat down, a hand running up through his dishevelled hair.

"You need a haircut," Mary smiled at him as she prepared breakfast for them all.

"Hey, I like the shaggy look, leave me alone." Jet smirked and rested his elbows on the table as he wiped sleep remains from his eyes. "Thanks for letting me sleep in, by the way."

"You were pretty adamant about it, plus I figured you'd had a rough couple of weeks with very little sleep as it was, you deserved to sleep in." Mary walked over to him and kissed his cheek, "So good morning."

Jet turned away bashfully but still kept the smile on his face, "You too."

They both flinched when they heard Cas' voice sharply exclaim an 'Ow!' and 'Ever heard of being gentle! ?'

Jet snorted and clapped his hands as he laughed, "Oh Dean, you retard."

"My boys, oh the pride I feel." Mary chuckled and went back to the stove.

Upstairs Dean apologized profusely as Cas slowly un-tensed and relaxed again. "Sorry, I just... I guess you don't stay open, huh?"

"No, did you stay open when you used a dildo, dumbass?" Cas hissed softly and exhaled slowly. "Sorry, sorry. I just didn't expect it."

"It's okay," Dean didn't mind Cas getting mad at him for little things, they were a couple and he'd have to learn how to deal with Castiel's anger at some point, better to start in small doses. "Better?"

"Yes," Cas relaxed considerably more as Dean's finger probed around and applied the ointment liberally. "I can't believe your mom just has this around."

"I don't want to think about it." Dean answered with a shake of his head.

Earlier that morning Sam had gone to school alone, decidedly not going to wake his naked post-sex brother up. He approached the school like any other day, expecting to see Gabriel waiting for him. The other boy wasn't around at all though, Sam shrugged and figured it was nothing, Gabe was probably late. Though as he walked closer he realized there were eyes on him, people stared quietly as the young Winchester walked to school alone.

Sam adjusted the back pack on his shoulders and took an even breath, he tried to tell himself he was being paranoid except that quickly vanished as he watched a group of teenagers walking toward him, some his age, some older, some not even in high school. Sam stopped walking then as the group's gaze seemed to linger on him, he looked at their clothes and their members and realized that somehow he'd pissed off a very unwholesome gang of people. He couldn't say what he'd done, it might be that his brother and Jet had made enemies; it might just be the gay thing.

Sam's gaze fell on a lump partially hidden from view just barely behind the school, he recognized Gabriel's back pack thrown off to the side and realized what was about to happen. "Wait!" Sam shouted before the group had gotten too close, starting to take several steps back and glancing at the people looking his way from the school's entrance, at their faces and how they didn't do anything. "Hold on, let's talk this out." Sam looked back at the biggest guy that approached him, the man's hand reaching down and grabbing Sam by the front of his shirt. The fourteen year old felt his knees shaking as he was lifted up just enough that his toes barely touched the pavement below him, his heart raced loudly in his ears and he could feel himself trying to swallow past a lump but unable to do so.

"How about we settle it like men, teach you a thing or two." The guy answered, getting a chuckle from the others.

Diplomacy would not work. Sam knew this; he'd seen it and the leader just made it very clear. Instead he steeled his eyes and glared up at them, his heart skittering in his chest like a frightened jack-rabbit. "What did you do to Gabriel?"

"You're about to find out." Another guy chuckled arrogantly and Sam took that moment to snap his knee up into the leader's groin as hard as he could. He was dropped suddenly and he bolted, away from the gang that was circling around him and closing off his escape, running in the only open direction. In the rush of adrenaline, the sound of blood pumping in his ears and his heart thundering enough to drown out all other noise, he was surprised when the sound of a horn blared in his ears.

The moments after that seemed to blur horribly and he could see the sky swirling above his head, darkness encroaching on the corners of his vision. He heard shouts and the sounds of those bullies running away.

" _What the hell, man! ?"_

" _I didn't think he'd run into the street!"_

A shadowy figure loomed into his line of sight before darkness blurred the rest of it, voices much closer to him but sounding more and more distant as he laid there.

" _Oh my god, I am so sorry! Are you okay? Kid?"_

" _Call an ambulance!"_

Sam felt like he was falling, mind swirling in complete disorientation as the sounds of people around him vanished and all feeling slipped away. The only thing he could make sense of was one thing and so just before he fell unconscious he muttered it. "I want my brother..."

Ellen was the first teacher on the scene since she had just pulled up with Jo and witnessed the entire thing. She was the first one on her cell phone and the first one kneeling next to Sam to make sure he was still breathing. The idiot who had hit him stuttered and blubbered excuses like 'he just ran out in front of me' and similar crap. Ellen looked up at him viciously, "If you hadn't been speeding in a school zone he would be in better shape. Right now I don't have time to give you shit so shut up and get me something to stop the bleeding."

Jo knelt on Sam's other side, looking down at the way his eyes flickered and closed, tears streaking down from his eyes and the only words he managed. "It'll be okay, Sam." She took out her phone and skimmed through the contacts until she found Dean. She knew she should probably call the house number for one of the parents but Dean seemed more important at that moment. "Shit, he's not picking up." She muttered after several attempts.

"Call the house phone." Ellen instructed next, do what first aid she knew would help.

"It went straight to their answering machine," Jo sighed angrily, "It must be dead or disconnected." She then punched in the number for John's work, not knowing what else to do. "I'm calling John's shop."

The call went through to the secretary and Jo demanded she speak to John who was apparently out on a house call, the man had left his cell phone in the office. "GOD DAMN IT!" Jo shouted after hanging up and calling Dean's cell again. "Dean, it's like 8:30 in the morning, you're not picking up your cell, your house phone is dead or something, and your dad forgot his in his office when he went out.  _None_  of you are picking up so I figured I'd leave you a message and you might eventually get it. Sam's been hurt; he was hit by a car on his way to school. There's an ambulance on the way and he's going to the hospital, when you get this just either call me or get down there, okay?" She looked at Ellen who nodded at her approvingly, apparently that was all they could do at the time.

* * *

Dean stuffed the last of breakfast into his mouth and glanced at his cell for the first time that day, seeing he had several missed calls and a voicemail. He hit a few buttons and sat to listen to it, slowly his eyes growing wider and wider. His head snapped to look at the time, it was after 10 already, he got up very suddenly and ended the voicemail. "Mom," He looked up at her with a pale expression and horrified eyes. "Sam at the hospital, he was hit by a car."

Mary dropped what she was doing and ran to the door, "Get your shoes on." She instructed quickly, "Why didn't anyone call?"

"They did, apparently the phone's dead." Dean rushed over as well, Jet right behind him.

Cas looked over at the cordless house phone sitting on the charger a little awkwardly, whoever had put it there the day before hadn't made sure it was on there properly. He stood up and quickly put his shoes on as well, whatever he had brought yesterday didn't matter, he'd come back for it. "I'm coming." He said as they hurried out, no one argued with him.

Dean called Jo's cell as he belted himself in the front seat next to Mary who tore off the drive way, he'd never seen her drive like this. "Jo? It's Dean, how is he?"

" _DEAN! What the hell have you been doing? !"_  Jo snapped on the other line,  _"Why didn't anyone pick up the phone at your place?"_  There was some muttering on the other line and Dean listened as it sounded like Jo handed the phone over.

" _Dean, it's Ellen. Is your mom there?"_

"She's driving," Dean answered, glancing at Mary's distraught expression. "What is it?"

" _Well he's not allowed any visitors yet."_  Ellen explained,  _"But I have to ask, do you know why a bunch of boys would surround him on his way to school?"_

Dean felt his limbs tighten, "What?"

" _When we pulled up he was standing in the center of a semi-circle of guys, he hit one of them and ran into the street."_  Ellen sighed.  _"Do you know why those boys would be after him?"_

Dean didn't know what else to say to that, "He likes a boy in his class, is that kid okay?"

" _No one else has been brought in here so I don't know."_  Ellen answered,  _"I'm more concerned with who those kids were. Some of them were young men and I didn't like the look of them."_

"I'll look into it." Dean answered, "We'll be there in no time, just... I hope he's okay."

After that Dean clenched the seat, the image of Sam in an emergency room all alone eating away at him though not as much as poor Sam having to bolt into the street to escape bullies that could have been taken care of if he'd just gotten up that morning.

_'Just hold on, Sammy.'_


	21. Chapter 21

"What do you mean you can't do anything! ?" John shouted into his cell phone, he'd gotten the message as soon as he'd returned from the house visit and had charged to the hospital like a maniac. He'd gotten the description from Ellen and Jo and promptly flipped shit. He'd been on the phone with a police officer for the last hour or so and only now was he finally getting an answer to his adamant questions. "Bullshit." John spat, "Bullshit you can't do anything! Those boys chased my son into the street; they're liable and at least partially responsible!"

" _I'm sorry, sir. We've questioned several witnesses and the majority of them say that your son ran into the street on his own, none of them touched him."_  The officer on the other line replied and the answer nearly made John turn red in the face.

"That's because they're intolerant assholes!" John shouted, part of him shocked that he was saying it. Wouldn't that have been him? Watching a homosexual man get hit by something and figure it was meant to happen? No. Not if the same thing meant Sam was stuck in a hospital bed. If standing on your own stubborn moral ground meant  _this_ , John wanted nothing to do with it. "My boy was being bullied and he had no choice but to go the way he did, plus the way I heard the story from the woman who was the first on the scene, he was being lifted up by his shirt and threatened."

" _We talked to her as well, Mr. Winchester, and she and her daughter are the only ones who have explained the story in that way. The other ten or so people that were in the area said that that had never happened."_

John snarled but hung up, knowing when he'd lost. He walked back into the hospital and to the sitting room his family was in, glancing at the way Dean nervously twitched and bounced his leg up and down, and Mary's solemn and tearful expression. He looked over at Jet who had finished pacing around the room and settled for leaning against the most out of the way wall, his fingers still twitching as he was clearly agitated. Castiel hunched forward, cell in hand as he texted furiously to someone, his brow furrowed in a deep creasing way that only accented his glare at the device.

"The police say that 'there were more witnesses saying Sam randomly ran into the street'." John fumed and stomped across the floor back and forth in a similar way that Jet had done earlier. "This is infuriating!" He shouted, "Who would honestly believe a bunch of stupid teenagers over an adult like Ellen?"

"People with the same mindset as the teenagers." Cas muttered, "I'm sure the teens probably explained why Sam was being approached and in this small town that's reason enough to ignore the law." He glowered angrily at the floor and fumbled the phone around in his hands. "I've been texting my family, they're looking into it themselves."

John looked over at Cas, a little surprised that a stranger to their family would take this much interest in it. "If I can ask, out of curiosity, why would you help?"

Castiel looked up and smirked a little, "I've been where Sam is, maybe I never had the guts to fight back and the bad luck to run into the street, but I've been there. I... I never went to the police but my brother tried to once for me. He basically got the same response, 'well we can't do anything'. So I'm pretty sure the police in this town aren't going to help you out of the goodness of their intolerant, closed-minded asses."

John managed a small smile, this Castiel wasn't such a bad thing for Dean, he figured. He was going to have a talk with Dean about it, the whole 'I really like this guy' right after Cas got rich and moved away stint then came back gorgeous and Dean liked him even more. But it looked like Castiel had a brain of his own and could handle himself against a possibly still-thinking-with-his-hormones Dean. Of course, John hadn't talked to Dean about that much at all so he didn't claim to know much about Dean's feelings for Cas, it'd probably be a good idea to discuss at some point.

"So then what can your family do?" Jet asked after everyone was silent and he felt someone needed to break it.

"They're calling in private investigators, for one." Cas shrugged, "We'll see how it goes from there."

"Private investigators?" Mary asked, just trying to understand the situation by repeating in general.

"Yes, they'll look into it; ask more tasking questions than 'oh he's gay? Never mind we're done here', and probably set us up with a good case and an ability to put those bullies away for a while." Castiel fired off another text as he spoke, glancing up toward the door when he heard it open.

Gabriel trudged in looking like hell had been beaten out of him. He had a pretty intense bump on his head where he'd been hit to knock him out earlier, bruises along his limbs but nothing too serious. "Where's Sam?"

"What the heck happened to you?" Dean stood up and stared down at the teen dating his brother, feeling a little concerned at the sight of him.

"I got pushed around this morning by a bunch of thugs and when I came to someone said Sam had been in an accident." Gabriel looked at the doors to the room that the Winchester gang was circled around, "He's in there?"

"Yeah, but no one's allowed to see him." Cas went to Gabriel's side and helped to a chair, "You're okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little lumpy in the head right now." Gabriel shooed him away agitatedly, "Just... I need to see if he's okay. What happened? Someone said he ran into the street but that's not like him."

"He was chased there," John muttered angrily, "Probably by the same bullies you were dealing with."

"Fantastic..." Gabriel sighed and rubbed his head, looking exhausted. "Not that I wanted anyone to waste their time helping me or anything but it's nice to know nobody was worried where I was."

"We didn't know you were involved," Dean said quietly, "Anyone who could have told us that isn't doing so well." They all looked at the doors solemnly, Mary blowing her nose and trying to stay composed even though she was terrified for her baby's life and health.

John sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as the time slowly ticked by in silence. "We're going to have to move or something." John muttered, glancing at Mary who didn't look like she wanted to deal with it at that moment.

The nurse came out and looked at them, "He's stable and we're allowing visitors now," She urged them all to be soft-spoken as they didn't want to startle him but he was pumped pretty full of morphine and other pain killers that he might barely even notice they were being loud.

Dean pushed in ahead of the rest, moving straight to Sam's side and taking his hand, only once he'd done that did he dare look at the rest of his little brother. Tubes and needles sticking into him, the doctors distantly explaining to John and Mary what kind of bone fractures and internal damage had been caused. "Sammy?" Dean whispered, tears in his eyes read to fall.

Sam's green eyes fluttered open tiredly and he looked over at them, barely focusing and seeming to look past everyone he tried to see. But he recognized enough, "Dean?" He asked weakly and that was enough to cause Dean's tears to spill over.

"Hey," Dean said in a hoarse voice, not sure why it sounded that way, "Hey Sammy. Yeah it's me, I'm here."

Sam smiled a little and closed his eyes again, silent tears slipping down his cheeks, his fingers wrapping delicately around Dean's. "I was scared..." he mumbled.

"I know," Dean rubbed his hand gently, scared to touch anything else for fear of broken bones, "I know you were and I'm so sorry I wasn't there with you, Sam. I am  _so_  sorry." He gingerly reached up and brushed some of the matted hair from his brother's face, "You're going to be okay, alright?"

Sam nodded, barely but it was recognizable. He looked around again and spotted Gabriel smiling sadly at him, "Gabe?" He whispered, "You're okay?"

"Yeah," Gabriel reached over and touched him gently, "I was just bumped on the noggin that's all, nothing big."

Sam sighed relieved, then looked at Castiel with a quivering lip, "Cas..." he reached over and Castiel promptly took it, not wanting Sam to exert himself in anyway.

"Yeah, sweetie?" He leaned closer so Sam wouldn't have to speak any louder, either. His eyes were a calming blue, a caring smile on his lips as he watched the little Winchester struggle.

"I'm sorry." Sam gasped as his chest tightened and a pained sob made him wince.

"Oh Sam, no, what on earth are you sorry for?" Cas moved a bit closer to wipe the tears away, "You never did anything wrong, sweetheart, don't cry okay?"

Sam sniffled a bit and nodded stubbornly, "I'm sorry you didn't have anyone there to help you when you needed them." He inhaled shakily and tried to stay strong though it was clearly difficult for him at that moment, "I have Gabriel right now but you didn't have Dean then, I don't know how you did it alone." He hiccupped another sob and Cas let Gabriel do the gentle task of wiping Sam's tears away. He looked at Dean for a second and then back to Sam, giving the boy's hand a soft but determined squeeze.

"Don't you worry about me, Sam. I've taken that journey but I wasn't alone, I had my family behind me and my two best friends at all times. When I moved away I'd met someone else to help me through the rest of it so don't feel bad for me, you don't have to apologize, but I do appreciate your concern. You're an amazing person, Sam, and I know you'll be fine." Cas hoped Sam would be fine but he didn't want to weaken his statements with a 'maybe' so he left it out.

After that Castiel stepped out and let the people closer to Sam see him, his parents, brother, boyfriend, and pseudo-brother. Cas was just his brother's boyfriend, not nearly as important. Instead he stood back and handled the messages from his parents, telling them how Sam was doing and what the boy had said to him. It was agreed among the Novak's that they'd have to visit the Winchester residence when Sam was brought home, bring that poor family a great meal to spare Mary from cooking and offer their sympathies.

Of course, Cas didn't know when Sam would be let out so he asked his dad to focus on getting those private investigators. Jimmy only responded with 'lol Balthazar's got his hands all over that, no worries'. And Castiel had to chuckle softly, was there something his English friend couldn't do? If there was he didn't know of it.


	22. Chapter 22

Something the doctors had said that Mary and John didn't repeat to anyone else, something that burned at them and only made John all the more eager to put this to justice. Sam's spine had been injured in the accident or when he was moved onto a stretcher to get into the ambulance, either way the doctor's weren't sure if he'd walk again. John didn't say anything and all he could do was hold Mary's hand, Sam still had a little bit of feeling down to the middle of his thighs though anything lower than his waist was sketchy, at best. He felt things maybe 30% of the time, which was better than nothing but still not good. He couldn't move his legs much more than 10% of the times he tried and sometimes they just twitched on their own.

Dean walked out of the hospital room to Mary and John's side as soon as Sam was asleep; he looked at their drained faces and crossed his arms, "What's going on?"

"We're just tired, Dean." John answered though he could tell by his son's face that Dean didn't believe a word of it.

"Sam's alive, the doctor's say he'll keep living, so what is it?" Dean furrowed his brow, "Is it money? I mean I'm not beyond asking Cas."

"No, Dean it isn't money." Mary managed to finally speak though her voice sounded choked, "Well... we..." She looked at John who rubbed his eyes exhaustedly. "They said they aren't sure but... Sam might not walk again."

Dean's eyes widened, " _What?_ " he spat, looking between them in complete shock, "You're kidding? Please tell me you're kidding."

She shook her head and looked back at the hospital room as Jet quietly joined them. "They said they aren't sure," She repeated it like a lifeline.

Jet glanced at Dean then at John and Mary, "What?"

"Sam won't walk again." Dean muttered angrily, just in time for Castiel to hear it as he approached from down the hall. Dean clenched his fists and felt all of his muscles tense at once. Cas touched his shoulder gently, a move Dean wanted to swat away but knew better. "I should have gone with him!" he shouted and turned around, "If I had gone to school this morning-"

"Same here, Dean." Jet interrupted him and caught his arm firmly, "But we didn't, alright? Neither of us did so don't start blaming anybody except for those jerks at school." He looked at Cas who stared worriedly at Dean, "Cas' family has people on this so we can't touch them," Jet spoke in a way that had the Winchester's looking at him, like for the first time in his life he had thought things through and hadn't flipped out. "So the only thing you can do, Dean, is wait."

"Wait for what?" Dean snapped, a glare shot at the very neutral, if not serious expression on Jet's face.

"The next move to pop up. If it's 'go find those assholes because Cas' private investigators suck' then fine, we go and find them and kick their asses. But if Cas' plan does go well and they get locked up for hate crimes, then chances are pretty good your next move," He poked Dean firmly in the chest, just once and left his finger there to make a point, "will be to big brother Sam because god knows he's going to need you."

Dean looked down at Jet's hand and closed his eyes, "Yeah..." he rubbed his face tiredly, a similar motion to John's earlier one. "I wish I could do something right now. Something that'll get him up and healthy again..."

"We all do, Dean." Cas whispered, glancing at John and Mary who nodded as well, "But sometimes it just doesn't work out that way."

Dean looked at Castiel and found that he was really happy his boyfriend had come with, had been here for him during all of this, to hold his hand and let him do his venting. "Cas," Dean reached over and took Castiel's hand, squeezing it, "You are amazing for being so supportive in all this."

John nodded, "I'm impressed with you, young man." He pat Castiel's shoulder with a smile on his face, "You two have my blessings, I hope it works out."

"Thank you, sir." Cas gave a quick bow of his head and grinned at Dean who looked to be just about as surprised as Jet, both teens staring at John with big eyes.

"For real, dad?" Dean asked softly, a little scared to believe it.

"Definitely," John chuckled, "But I'll have to ask that after a certain hour you boys keep it down. Got a little noisy last time."

Cas' face flushed and he tried to quickly shrug it off though they had all seen it already. "Sorry, I uh... It won't happen again."

Dean grinned, "It might," he kissed Castiel's cheek and put his arm around his waist, hand possessively resting on his hip.

The rest of their stay in the hospital was in an attempt at light-hearted support for Sam who, to his credit, never asked about his legs, never mentioned it at all. He didn't need to; he could already tell on his own so why ask a stupid question just because he didn't want to hear the answer? Sam had never been one for stupid questions, he hated it when people asked something so obvious and didn't want to be a hypocrite for it. That said, though, everyone wondered if he'd recognized it, they all expected him to ask and all expected a horrified and shocked expression when he learned the truth.

It didn't happen, even after he was finally released a week or two later. They'd done what they could for him and now he'd have to wait and see. John wheeled Sam out, wondering vaguely how they were going to do this, how anyone did this sort of thing. Sam's room would have to be moved to the main floor but they didn't have any bedroom space on the main floor aside from the master bedroom. Mary had insisted that they move upstairs to give Sam that much, at least. It was the only thing they could think of doing, so they'd already done it before bringing Sam home.

The young Winchester only winced a little as his dad picked him up and put him in the truck, the vehicle with the softest ride for Sam's still injured body. He belted himself in and watched as John picked the wheelchair up and fastened it in the back. Dean was in the truck next to Sam, his hand reaching over and gently ruffling the boy's hair.

"Hey, Sammy."

Sam smiled at him, his face a bit paler than usual and his eyes with dark circles underneath. He was exhausted, he was still in pain and clearly he just wanted to go to sleep, but he still gave Dean a smile. "Hey."

John hopped into the driver's seat and as he started her and drove out of the hospital's parking lot, he reached over and squeezed Mary's hand, a silent support for her. Dean watched it and didn't know what to say, Sam was so quiet, he'd been pretty quiet in his hospital room too. What was he thinking? Why wasn't he saying anything? It bothered him because Sam usually told him everything, what was with the tough guy act? He'd have to drill the kid later and get it out of him.

They got Sam home without incident, wheeled him inside and introduced him to his new room. Sam looked at it sadly and then at his parents, "You... gave up your room for me?"

"You need it more than we do, Sam." Mary went to his side and gingerly stroked his cheek as his bottom lip started to quiver. She tried to hush him but the waterfall of tears was inevitable, an unspoken thing that Sam knew, that they knew, and truth be told no one really wanted to ever say it out loud.

* * *

Jet had decidedly gone over to the Novak's the day they brought Sam home, he knew he was invited, he knew he was even expected but at the same time he wasn't actually a Winchester and it would be best if he stayed away for this part. He rang the bell and was soon greeted by Michael, Cas' older brother.

"And you are?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow. He clearly didn't trust anyone Castiel's age knocking at their door, which made perfect sense really.

"Name's Jet, friend of Cas' and Balthazar." Jet didn't bother offering a smile or fake pleasant greeting. He felt like crap and so didn't feel the need to pretend otherwise. "Can I come in?"

Michael lifted a finger and glanced back over his shoulder, "Cas, someone at the door says he's you friend, mind confirming?"

"Name?" Castiel shouted down the stairs pretty quick, Jet figured they must have a lot of conversations like this.

"Jet." Michael called back.

"Yep, friend. Let him in." Cas confirmed cheerily and sounded like he was on his way down the stairs. Jet walked in right after that, Michael opening the door for him. "Hey, Jet." Castiel waved a little, wearing a housecoat and Jet hoped something else though he couldn't see it. "Wanna come up? Balthy's here too."

Jet nodded and followed Castiel's scampering form up to his room, now noticing the cotton stuffed between the other teen's toes. He raised an eyebrow at it but didn't say anything. Apparently Cas really was a bit more flamboyant than he used to be, it wasn't just some silly act he'd been putting on.

"So what's up?" Cas asked as he sat down on his bed, bringing his leg up elegantly and getting back to the pedicure he was performing on himself.

"They're bringing Sam back today, probably home already." Jet shrugged and sat down on the floor, leaning against the dresser with his long legs stretched out ahead of him, Balthazar sitting on the office chair on the other side of the room from Cas on the bed. "I figured not being there would be a good idea."

"Why's that?" Balthazar asked after a moment of exchanging glances with Castiel.

"I dunno, just had a feeling is all." Jet shrugged and glanced at both of them, "I'm not exactly the most helpful guy, alright? I can only handle being so and so responsible before I want to punch faces in and if I see that kid cry again... I'd probably do something I'd regret and jeopardize the investigation. How is that going by the way?"

Cas had to hand it to Jet, nice segue way. "They're working on it but they've told me they already have a case. Several of the people have been legitimately proven intolerant and therefore most of their opinions can't be considered in a court room. They'll be talking to Sam and Gabriel each about what happened with these bullies, Gabriel's already given his statement I think. Then there's Ellen and Jo for sure, and my brother's already given them his understanding of the police around here. It's going very well, shouldn't be too long now."

Jet smiled at that, finally some good fucking news. "That... is good to hear. Cas, I'm sorry I was ever a dick to you because honestly? You're one of the coolest guys I know..." he glanced at the way Castiel was handling his feet and shrugged, "Even while doing  _that_."

Castiel chuckled, "Well thank you, Jet. And I forgive you. I'm surprised, honestly. Some of the people I thought would never change are the ones standing up and apologizing to me, even just a couple of days ago a neighbour had come up to me while I was mowing the lawn and said that they remembered the last time they'd seen me doing that I had gotten ambushed by a bunch of jerks and they admitted to turning a blind eye to it. They then gave me a homemade cake with the words 'I'm sorry' written in icing across the top." Cas shook his head, "It's incredible and at the same time the people you hope would change, like the police force, don't at all."

"That's how it goes, I guess." Balthazar smiled and shrugged, "Though I'm a little angry."

"Why's that?" Cas looked up a little concerned.

"You didn't share any of that cake, you little bitch." Balthazar furrowed his brow though Castiel couldn't help but burst into giggles.

Jet looked at them both again and smiled, somehow even though it'd never been just him and Cas and Balthazar in a room before, it felt comfortable.

Castiel glanced at his phone as it vibrated repeatedly signifying a phone call he quickly snatched it up and put it to his ear, holding it in place with his shoulder as he continued working on his feet. "Hello?" His face changed to an odd mixture of brightening up and looking tired, "Dean, hi baby..." His eyes shifted toward the phone and he nodded a little, "Yeah... I heard. Jet's here, figured you guys would like some family time."

Jet looked up and fidgeted nervously before Balthazar put a calming hand on his shoulder. "You're fine, big guy, don't worry about it."

Jet smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I don't know why I'm anxious. Guess I just want to know how Sam's doing."

Cas adjusted his position a bit and laid back on his bed a little more comfortably, just like a teenager who was ready for a long phone conversation. "Baby it's okay, I'm not upset... No, no! You go, it's fine. I really would rather you spend this time with your brother." He sounded so sweet as he tried to reassure Dean though he cleared his throat and took on that serious tone, the one that made Jet wonder where this flamboyant cutesy side even came from, "Dean, for fuck's sake, I'm fine! Stay with Sam as long as he needs you to, when he's well enough that he doesn't mind visitors I'll come and visit okay?"

Jet shook his head, "Sometimes you have to be firm with that idiot."

"Dean?" Balthazar asked and Jet nodded, "Yeah I've noticed that too. Cas doesn't mind though, it helps him a bit to know that he isn't the permanent bottom of the dynamic."

"You think they'll work well together?" Jet asked, looking up at the should-be-therapist.

"If Cas' elated mood is anything to go by, I'd say yes." Balthazar smiled, "I don't think they'll have any troubles in the foreseeable future."

"Good to hear, doc." Jet smirked, getting a light kick from the older man sitting next to him.

"Okay, that's better... Alright, miss you too sweetie. Tell him I wish him the best and I'll see him sooner than he thinks. Also, I want to take him wheelchair shopping when he's more comfortable talking about it." Cas played casually with his mussy hair as he listened to Dean on the other end, a soft laugh escaping him, "Exactly. Okay I'll talk to you later, baby. Good night." He hung up and adjusted to a sitting position again. "Sam's in pretty rough shape." He muttered.

"Thought so." Jet nodded, glad he decided to leave.

"He'll be okay," Balthazar said knowingly, "I'm pretty certain he'll have enough love in all the right places. And wheelchair shopping?"

"Duh, when he's better and a bit more comfortable with the idea of being stuck in one, he might just want a cooler one than the hospital issued style." Cas said almost matter-of-factly.

"Hell, if I were stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life I'd want a kick ass chair." Jet smirked, "Made of gold and maybe if it could fly too, like rocket packs on the sides."

"You're delusional and stupid." Balthazar sighed heavily, this time earning a kick from Jet who had lifted his leg and rammed it into Balthazar's firmly. "Ow! Brute."

"Prep." Jet smirked.

Overall their evenings for the following days were similar, an honest attempt at humour and light-weight atmosphere with a dark and heavy undertone to it. Sam had remained pretty quiet though he shared his feelings with Dean, his brother who had decidedly positioned himself on the floor of Sam's new room. He'd dragged his mattress down the stairs and dropped it with a satisfied sigh, insisting that he remain easily reached. Sam, after trying, and failing, to force Dean out, quietly thanked him in the dark of the night.

It was difficult but the road to recovery always would be. Gabriel, though not specifically given the 'okay' to come visit Sam at home, showed up anyway. Family time or not he wasn't going to let his boyfriend suffer in this on his own and he'd be damned if he didn't manage to make the other teen laugh at least once a day. It proved to be a big help, Dean found, for Sam to have someone non-family related to him to offer some comfort. Jet came back after the first few days and did what he could to help them out, no one asked him why he'd stayed away so long, no one but Sam anyway.

Jet sat down at Sam's side and shrugged after a moment of silence. "Because I want to help you and I want those sons of bitches to get what's coming to them. To do both, I had to leave for a little while."

Sam nodded after pondering it for a second and smiled half-heartedly, "Thanks."

"No problem, kiddo." Jet ruffled Sam's hair, noting the stitches on the side of his head and promptly avoiding them.

Castiel and Balthazar showed up soon after that, figuring that if Gabriel and Jet were around then they might as well invite themselves over. Of course they weren't turned away, and Balthazar immediately moved to Sam's side to talk with the distraught teen. Castiel lavished Sam with niceties, kindnesses, compliments and words of wisdom. Sam found Cas' insight on the matter the most helpful because if anyone would know how to mentally handle this kind of abuse, it'd be him.

Only after several weeks of recovery did Cas actually deem Sam fit enough to handle the following steps. The investigators came in, questioned everybody in the house and filled them all in on where they stood, what the case looked like, that basically it was clean cut and in fact those officers were going to be put on trial as well for their intolerance. It was easy, it felt so easy that Sam and the Winchester's stared blankly for the first little bit, waiting for the bad news.

"So what's going to happen to the group of assholes?" Jet asked after a moment, "They being charged?"

"They will be," the investigator smiled, "Though their families are fighting against it so we'll have to take them to court. It's a pretty clean case, I wouldn't worry about it."

John looked at the family in awe; they exchanged glances with him, all similar expressions on their faces. "So prison? Or juvie?"

"Some of them are too old for juvie, some of the younger ones might only get house arrest, but they're all in big trouble. A fine will be issued to the individual's once the court settles, or at least that's what I'll be pushing for. The money will go to your family and pay for Sam's medical bills."

Once they were done discussing the terms and following procedures that were going to follow, the investigators left and Dean put an arm around Castiel and kissed his cheek fervently, "Your family is the best. I don't know how we can thank you."

"Well actually," Cas smiled and looked at them all, "My family was wondering if they could come over for dinner?"

"Dinner?" Mary asked quickly, and Cas raised his hands to ease her.

"It's okay, they want to bring food from our house and serve it to you. My parents are really interested in meeting you all and they want to offer their sympathies for everything that's happened." Castiel looked at John for the verdict.

John and Mary exchanged glances and he nodded, "Yes, if that's not any trouble for them."

"Not at all, we were really hoping you'd say yes." Cas beamed and then turned to look at Dean, "Though before they do come here you'll need to have dinner at my place, they haven't properly met you yet."

Dean blinked several times, completely unprepared for this. Meeting Cas' parents? What would they think of him? After all the awful stories he was certain that Castiel had shared in the past, would they think he was just some horn-dog looking for Cas' money and junk? Or would they pay more attention to the newest stories Castiel would tell? He had no idea but what could he do but say yes? "Of course, when?"

"Well tonight." Cas shrugged, "They were hoping to come over tomorrow, if that's okay?"

"Of course," Mary smiled, "We'd love to have them over tomorrow."

Dean swallowed and smiled awkwardly, "Awesome, I'll uh... go shower."

Cas smiled and watched his boyfriend run off, "I think I just scared him."

"It's better you don't give him time to think." Sam laughed, "Dean's never been good at that."

Cas smiled down at him, "No, I suppose he hasn't."


	23. Chapter 23

Dean showered and combed his hair nicely to the side, actually giving himself a part. He sighed heavily and made sure to shave appropriately, quickly running to his bedroom and putting on some of his best clothes. "I'm meeting his parents. I'm meeting his parents and that's okay. Normal people do this all the time, hell I'm sure they're pretty open people. I mean it's not like I'm the worst person to have ever met Castiel in the past or anything. Oh god his brother is going to murder me. I mean if that had happened to Sam, which it basically did, and one of those creeps came back a few years later saying they were Sam's boyfriend I think I'd kill them."

Dean looked up into his bedroom mirror and made a sad-puppy face, "Oh I'm dead..."

"Dean?" Cas walked in slowly, everything about him was elegant and Dean suddenly felt very inferior.

"God, Cas I can't do this." Dean rubbed his eyes as his boyfriend circled around him, fixing up his shirt and tie.

"Yes you can," he said softly, his hands finding their way to Dean's hair to muss it back into its usual style. "If I could come back to school after all of that you can go and meet my parents." He leaned up and kissed Dean's cheek, "Okay?"

"But... your brother's going to kill me." Dean sighed.

Cas laughed, "You're scared of Michael? Well I guess it makes sense, he's been pretty defensive of me. But I wouldn't worry if I were you, the recent stories they've heard of you are all good things so buck up and come on."

Dean whined a little, receiving a light tap to his junk. His face heated up briefly and he stared at Cas in amused confusion, "What was that?"

"Just checking to see if you still had your balls." Cas grinned and walked out, his hips swaying just enough to inadvertently give Dean a glimpse of his favourite showing.

"You're hilarious." Dean hurried after him and trotted down the stairs, "Okay, we're going." He called to his family who just smiled in return.

"Good luck, Dean." Sam offered words of support, giving him a thumbs-up in return.

"Thanks, Sammy." Dean returned the gesture and followed Castiel's lead out the door.

* * *

They arrived at the Novak residence sooner than Dean was ready for and Castiel loudly announced their arrival. "I'm home! And Dean's with me." He barely managed to finish his sentence before Michael rounded the corner from the dining room/kitchen.

He looked Dean up and down, sizing him up and getting a few for how nervous the teen was. Michael wanted to laugh but he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to abuse Dean's 'wooden board' state. "So it's you, huh?" He crossed his arms over his broad chest and stared down his nose at Castiel's nearly shaking boyfriend. "Don't think I don't remember you."

"I know you do." Dean swallowed past the lump in his throat but stuck his hand out, "But I'd still like to try and start over, I'm Dean."

Michael looked at the hand and fought the urge to snort like a bull and turn it down. Instead he let go of the silly charade and took it firmly, his expression melting into a warming smile, "It's alright, Dean. I'm not mad and I won't do anything. Cas is the one who judges the harshest around here and if he's okay with you then I'm okay with you."

Dean could have melted into a puddle of relief, glad to know that he'd already cleared the toughest hurdle. "That is good to hear." He smiled over at Cas who gave him a wink and wandered away to the dining room to properly inform his parents of the Winchester family's response. Once he was gone Michael gripped Dean's hand harder and pulled him a bit closer.

"Just so you know, though, if you hurt him I'll pulverize you." His eyes were steely as he glared into Dean's, not a hint of a joke on his breath.

"Of course," Dean calmed his nerves and nodded like the soldier his dad had trained him to be, "I'd never dream of it. If I did I'd welcome whatever you had in mind because I'd deserve it."

Michael let go of his hand and nodded, "Good, glad we're on the same page." He was about to follow Cas but stalled for a second, "I heard about Sam, I'm really sorry."

"It's... it'll be okay." Dean wasn't sure if he was telling Michael or himself, "Sam's a tough kid."

"Yeah well you're four years older than him, you can see when being tough isn't enough, right?"

Dean nodded slowly, knowing full well that this was one of those situations. "I get why you're so defensive of Cas, by the way. I'm in a similar situation with Sam... How did you do it?"

"You just try to be there for him whenever you can, but sometimes you can't be there for the worst of it." Michael turned to look at Dean sadly, "I couldn't help him when he needed me the most and something happened to him. There isn't anything I could have done but that doesn't stop me from hating myself for it. But hopefully you'll be as lucky as I was, that Sam will be able to get back on his feet, in a sense, like Cas did. Because really, that's all you can do at this point." He shook his head and shrugged, "And I guess I'd suggest let him spend some time with Balthazar, that weirdo has a knack for helping people."

"I noticed. He's been spending some time with Sam as it is, and I gotta say it's already helped a lot." Dean smiled softly, "I'll just have to make sure I'm there for him."

"You guys coming or what?" Cas called over to them, "Sheesh, I thought you were right behind me."

"Sorry," Dean hurried to Castiel's side and looked up at Amelia and Jimmy. "Hi, I'm Dean." He shook their hands and swallowed dryly. Here goes nothing.

* * *

Dean had to say he'd expected dinner to go over awkwardly but this family was so open, so nice that he felt right at home. They discussed how their days had gone; they subtly asked him questions about himself without letting it feel like an interrogation and he had to say he was very comfortable. The food was slightly different than how his mom usually made it but it wasn't bad, Castiel's little quirks and sense of humour suddenly made sense as Dean paid close attention to the rest of his family.

Jimmy asked him what he planned to do with his future, how that had changed since he'd grown up, and basically where he stood with family. Dean found all of those questions too easy, way too easy, in fact they had been so simple to answer he almost didn't have to think about it. That's why when Amelia asked him the next question he was stumped for a short period of time.

"What are your plans with Castiel?"

Dean stared at her blankly then looked at Cas who had turned his head to watch how Dean handled the inquiry. "I uh..." Dean cleared his throat and tried to find the right words. "I... I want..." He took a deep breath and settled himself. "I'm not in this for any short amount of time. Honestly, what I want is to make Castiel feel special, safe, and above everything else, I want him to feel loved." He was aware that he and Cas had only been together for a little while and the word love nearly made the other teen's eyes pop out of their sockets but Dean ignored it. "I want this relationship to go on forever and at some point I would like to marry him, spend the rest of our lives together."

Castiel stared in complete shock; he had not seen that coming in any way. He looked at his parents who seemed to accept the answer without a second thought, whatever it was, Dean had passed their test. Michael pat Cas on the shoulder playfully, "Looks like you've got yourself a clinger."

Cas swatted him away and looked at Dean with a soft blush on his cheeks, "You... you mean that?"

"Definitely." Dean said solidly and nodded his head for emphasis, "I want you with me for as long as I can have you."

Cas covered his mouth and looked at the grins on his family's faces then back to Dean. He had nothing to say but he didn't fully need to say anything at all. Cas got up and wrapped his arms around Dean, his boyfriend pulling him into a firm hug. Dean settled Cas in his lap as he leaned his head back to kiss the ever smiling lips. "You are so sweet," Cas whispered in between kisses, not caring that his parents were grinning at his back.

Dean had to check 'meeting his parents' off the list and he'd definitely say it went well. Castiel had walked him to the door after the evening was basically over, Jimmy and Amelia saying they'd see Dean and his family later the next day and they were bringing supper so he had to make sure that Mary didn't make anything extra.

Castiel caught his arm before he left and pulled him into a kiss, nuzzling his cheek after and smiling at him, "I don't know if you said that just to impress them,"

"I didn't, I-"

Cas put his finger to Dean's lip to shush him, "Then I can't wait. I've had a crush on you for years, Dean. That crush turned into hatred because I didn't know what else to feel about you but... Well now I'm not sure if it's just a crush anymore. You're my boyfriend and somehow 'like' doesn't seem strong enough. I'll see you tomorrow, babe." He kissed Dean's cheek as a his goodbye.

Dean smiled and brushed his fingers along Cas' face and trailing off his jaw, "I will  _definitely_  be looking forward to it. Have a good night, Cas."

They parted like any new couple, attempting to say goodbye but not wanting to. Michael eventually went and leaned against the doorframe, "Good night." He smiled and closed it after, "There, done."

"You jerk." Cas pouted.

"Hey, it needed to be done." Michael rolled his eyes, "Otherwise you two never would have actually said goodbye and the door would be open all night."

Cas stuck his tongue out after his brother's retreating back but smiled after; glad he could have such a good relationship with his older brother. He glanced out the window at the car driving away from their house. He couldn't wait to see how dinner went with Dean's family. He'd been there for dinner a couple of times on his own already, sat with them in the hospital and everything, but he didn't know how their families would get along. At least he knew a good ice breaker; the law suit against those teenagers had gone really well and would be settled very shortly. Cas was certain his dad would use that to strike the conversation up between him and John; it was a manly topic and something they were all on the same side with, perfect to start with.

Cas rested his hands over his heart and sighed softly,  _'He loves me...'_  A smile spread his lips and he nearly squealed, "HE LOVES ME!"

Jimmy smirked and looked at Amelia who only shook her head, "Sounds like you." Jimmy muttered, earning himself a smack.


	24. Chapter 24

"Tonight we burn it all, get hot get tall. Yeah we're lighter than air! You've got the key to your release so pop that lock until you're lighter than air." Cas sat singing to himself as the family drove in the Winchester residence; he didn't do it quietly either. He bounced up and down and danced in his seat, bugging Michael who seemed pretty okay with it today.

"Cas would you stop?" Jimmy asked calmly, glancing in the rear view mirror.

"He's nervous, let him." Amelia smiled and looked back at Cas who hadn't stopped anyway, "Besides, he's good at it, I like hearing him sing."

"Yeah alright," Jimmy shrugged, "Though next time I want to change the song line-up of Cas-radio." The family chuckled and finally pulled up to the Winchester's place. Cas had been here several times already and yet he still couldn't help the nervous twitch in his legs as they bobbed up and down. He looked at Michael who gave absolutely no hint of anxiety as he hopped out and headed for the door. Jimmy and Amelia were pretty calm as well; it was just about as simple as 'going to a friend's place for dinner' to them.

The door opened before any of them reached it and Dean smiled brightly, still dressed as well as he could be before it was inappropriate and over-dressed. "Welcome," he said and stepped aside for them, Amelia giving him a gracious smile while the guys all walked in and looked around.

Mary couldn't resist hurrying over and shaking their hands, "My name's Mary, nice to finally meet you." She said sweetly and Dean could see right away that Amelia had taken a liking to her. The mom's basically took the food to the kitchen to make sure it was all the right temperature and servable while John approached Jimmy and they firmly shook hands, neither sure if they'd get along.

Jimmy wasn't as rough around the edges as John but was more than capable of striking up a conversation with just about anybody. He was much less awkward socially after his own experiences in life and really, it was an asset in pretty much every situation. When his hand came in contact with John's he tried to take note of every little thing Cas had ever said about the man. "You watch football?" Jimmy went with that, seeing the way John's eyes lit up slightly.

"I do, you?"

"Of course." Just like that Jimmy managed to spark a conversation, he and John were off and talking like they'd known one another for quite some time.

Dean took Castiel's hand and walked him to the master bedroom-now turned into Sam's room, "Come on."

Cas followed easily, waving at Michael who looked around and shrugged, not entirely sure what to do with himself. He glanced at Jet who waved a little. "Hey," was the only real greeting Jet gave him before following Dean and Cas to the bedroom. Michael sighed and followed them as well, figuring that the little brother was probably in that direction.

Sam was resting, laying in his bed and eyes closed though the light was still on and there was a book next to his hand. He'd be starting school again soon enough, he knew that, part of him was scared, part of him didn't care and just over all he wanted it to be over. He wanted to be graduated and done with it and yet he knew he couldn't just up and do that, time wouldn't fly by like it could in a story. He'd have to live through it, second by gruelling second. When the door opened he looked up and smiled a little, seeing one of the few people who understood what was going on with him.

"Hey, Sam." Cas smiled sweetly and Sam felt the cold lump in his stomach start to fade away a little.

"Hi, Cas." He wanted to sit up but was adamantly reminded by his weary body that that wasn't an option just yet. "How are you?"

"I'm good." Cas went and sat down on the edge of Sam's bed, his hand running up over his forehead and through his soft brown hair, "Ooh," Cas smiled and did it again, "Your hair feels amazing, what do you use?"

Sam blushed and smiled shyly at that, "Just the stuff mom and dad bought," he answered quietly, "You think it's nice?"

"Definitely," Cas whispered, still petting Sam's head.

Michael paused in the doorway and couldn't help but smile, he had no idea Castiel could be like this. He'd been with his brother through all the rough things, had known that Cas was a bit of a spazz, a charismatic goofball trapped in a nerdy body and lifestyle, but he'd never seen such a warm-hearted side of him. It was weird to say that but Michael wasn't terribly shocked by it either, different people bring out different personality traits in others and it seemed Cas was inherently good with younger, troubled teens. Though maybe it was just that Sam had gone through the same torment that Cas had.

After a few moments spent with Sam dinner was ready and everyone was alerted. Dean and Jet gently lifted Sam up into his chair and they were off to the table. Cas had to wonder how things would go, if the families would get along or if it'd all just end up being awkward silences and chewing sounds. He was delightfully surprised when John and Jimmy both led the gathering in a quick prayer, something he still found kind of funny and odd since he and Dean were doing things against the religion. But hey, if it worked for them then it worked and he wasn't going to question it.

Everything went better than expected after that, Mary asked Jimmy and Amelia questions about what they do, got into a long conversation with Amelia about working from home and running her own business, Jimmy and John and even Michael broke off about other things, sports related for example because really Michael was a star player in Europe and John was interested to hear how Michael saw the whole football / American football argument. It was an interesting dinner to be sure. Dean reached over and took Castiel's hand, catching the boy's fluttering blue gaze and holding it strongly until they both blushed and giggled.

Jet looked over at Sam and they both shrugged, neither of them having anything helpful to add to any of the conversations. "So," Jet decided to try, "How's it going with Gabriel?"

"Well he was going to come over but I told him we were meeting Cas' family so he didn't want to mess any of it up so he said he'd be by tomorrow." Sam shrugged, "His bruises healed okay and nothing's broken on him so I'm not as worried, but..." he shook his head, "He still goes to school on his own now because I'm here... I feel bad."

"Don't," Jet shook his head, "If Gabriel wanted to skip school and come see you all day I think he would, but at the same time you value education so I'm pretty sure he's doing the 'what Sam would want' thing."

Sam smiled a bit, "Yeah, I did ask him to take notes for me."

"Like you need it," Cas smiled and ruffled his hair gently, "I hear you're the smartest in your class."

"I guess," Sam shrugged and fixed the mess on his head; wishing people would stop doing that though he wasn't going to say that to Cas of all people. "I just..." He looked around at the table and shook his head, "Never mind." Most of the gazes had drifted toward him and he hated it, the look they all gave him, the pity and thoughts of 'oh poor thing'. He couldn't stand it. In fact he couldn't  _stand_  at all which was the biggest problem. Hell, he couldn't even storm away from the table without someone's help! It was infuriating but there wasn't anything he could do about it so he just let it go. Balthazar had talked to him several times, had helped him work through the biggest issues and self doubting thoughts he'd been stuck on but he still couldn't help but feel down. He was allowed, damn it.

Jet glanced at the others and nodded, remaining silent. Cas fidgeted a moment, looking around the room as the conversations continued then back at Dean. He could see it was all going well and everyone looked like they were getting along, it all seemed so mystical, like it couldn't be real. He felt so dumbstruck when his family had won the lottery that year, it was all so unrealistic he didn't know if he'd wake up and find it to be a dream. Not that he didn't appreciate that this was going so well, he just wasn't used to things turning out so amazingly so fast.

Dean squeezed his hand and gave him a reassuring smile, this was really happening. Castiel sighed lightly and his face melted into a smile, considering everything he was pretty happy,  _very_  happy. He squeezed Dean's hand back and looked at a family gathered that he felt would eventually get used to one another.

Castiel wasn't wrong, either. In the following few months their families got together on a weekly basis for sure, either going to one of the two houses and whoever's house held the gathering didn't have to make the food. It was silly, you'd think that the one house would prepare the food and serve their guests but they liked the way they were doing it, it shared the burden a little bit and shifted some of the awkward 'I am your host so eat my food' feelings that often came with inviting people over.

In the first little while justice had been served for Sam, the Novak's investigators revealed everything they needed to and then some about the incident to higher officials. Not only did those little punks get their come-uppins but so did the police and ever class in that school was given a tolerance speech by someone hired for that specific job. Anyone who had mocked the guest speaker was either removed by a teacher, the merciful option, or hit by someone like Jet, Dean, or Castiel. Those three had done their utmost to casually walk through the crowd and stomp on whoever said anything inappropriate. Most of the time the students' reaction to this from someone in their peer group would be a violent retaliation, however everyone recognized the school's renowned bully and monster, Jet, and decidedly stepped back from their rebellious tendency.

Sam sat quietly to the side with Gabriel right next to him, hands held tightly like a little promise that wouldn't be altered for anything. Sam looked up at his boyfriend who smiled down at him warmly, like there was nothing for Sam to be upset about, like there was nothing different about him at all. Sam returned the smile; somehow it felt good for someone to look at him the same way, like nothing had happened. He clung harder to Gabriel's hand and closed his eyes, holding onto that smile for as long as he could.

Castiel proved to be the school's strongest student council leader. The original kick off ideas that he and the others had been coming up with were changed and left for the 'end of school fun day' or whatever you wanted to call it. Some schools had movies in the gym; some did field trips or whatever else. Castiel had wanted to start the year off with a bang and he'd done that by showing up, by kicking the shit out of intolerant bullies and standing up for himself and everyone like him. In the time between when school had started in September and neared the end of June, there were significant changes in the homosexual population in that little town. People stood their ground with him, came out of the closet and approached him to thank him for all of his efforts. Sam's name was spoken and used as an inspiration, a kid who showed exactly what he'd put on the line to enforce what he believed in.

Intolerance died down though it still cropped up often enough for people like Garth and Chuck to get a little action as well. They'd teamed up on Castiel's side more than once and they'd do it until the end. They were like his personal body guards everywhere he went, Garth even took it upon himself to get them sunglasses for it, also asking Cas for money so he could go and buy jackets. Cas hadn't known what Garth wanted the money for but handed it to him anyway, only coming to school the next day to see his friends in the same jackets and sunglasses, grinning at him like morons. Part of Cas wondered, come graduation, what the school would be like. Jet would be gone, no more master bully, Dean, Cas, Chuck and Garth would be out of school as well, no one major to stand up for the different rights of individuals. He hoped someone else would rise to the occasion, maybe Sam though he didn't want to put that weight on the boy's shoulders.

The day of the final student council activity before everyone started cramming for their exams came. Dean and Castiel had been dating and subtly getting closer and closer until they seemed inseparable. Cas organized the last of the activities for the morning long before the day officially started. He looked up at Dean with a bit of a tired smile, "Ready for today?"

"Are you?" Dean smirked, "I've been looking forward to this for a while, can't wait to do absolutely nothing all day long."

"Bullshit," Cas kissed his cheek, "We're the head of the student council, we're running some of the activities."

Dean dropped his head, "Really?" He asked sadly.

"Yes, that's part of running the show. You seemed perfectly happy with not taking part in some of the, quote unquote, stupid ideas." Cas raised an eyebrow at him playfully. "Come on, you're in charge of the relay races this morning and Monopoly table in the afternoon."

Dean nodded and followed, "Do I get to play Monopoly at least?"

"No, you give out the game boards." Cas answered as he trotted along quickly to put up different posters in the appropriate areas of the school.

"Seriously?" Dean sighed, "Maaaaaaannn..."

"Hey," Cas spun around and caught him by the front of his shirt and smiled again, "Quit complaining or I won't let you take part in sex tonight, either."

That shut him up, "Yes sir." He saluted and got a light laugh from his boyfriend.

Set up was quick and most of the student council was looking forward to the events, a lot of the school was aloof about, many people skipped the day altogether, some hated that they had to do it at all, and of course then there were people like Garth who ran cheering through the halls because he was more than excited enough for all of them. He shouted in other classrooms that his class would kick their asses and they were all going down, generally riling up the masses. It worked for the most part; he ended up being the main target for humiliation that day. It was alright though; he was trying to make it happen and therefore won regardless of how bad he'd be beaten.

Dean smiled and watched the different classes compete during the physical activities; the relay race was pretty intense for the most part. He happened a glance at Sam, Gabriel walking behind and pushing his wheelchair, talking to him all the while. Dean furrowed his brow and tried not to think about how much the physical exercises would bother his little brother. Maybe they didn't at all and he had nothing to worry about. Then again, maybe he was just an idiot. "Hey Sam!" he called with a wave, Sam glancing up and waving back though no smile crossed his lips. "Having fun so far?"

"Uh..." Sam peered at the school's field full of people taking part in the different activities then back up at Dean, "Yeah, sure."

"Hey, not all of them are physical, alright?" Dean smiled and ruffled the boy's hair, earning himself a frown and glare from Sam.

"Right, I'll just go rock the chess board." Sam muttered.

"Wouldn't you normally do that anyway?" Dean hadn't really known Sam for being terribly physically active, though again maybe he was just being an idiot.

Sam shrugged, "Maybe, I don't really know. Whatever, I'm interested in the talent show later today anyway."

"Yeah," Dean nodded, "Cas is in it, I'm pretty excited too. He'll be singing something, or so he said. I wonder if it'll be another Adam Lambert song."

Sam smiled, "Cas does those for fun, bet it'll be something a lot cooler."

"Well we'll just have to wait and see," Dean glanced at Gabriel, noticing the boy was being pretty quiet. Obviously Gabriel was privy to certain things about Sam that Dean wasn't, Gabriel looked a little like he was struggling with what to say to someone in Sam's position. And it was a tough question to answer, what  _do_  you say to them? Really? Sam was fairly upset about not being able to do things on his own though granted he'd gotten a lot better, he could dress himself and wheel himself around though he was still trying to master the craft of actually getting into his wheelchair without any help. Bringing up different activities to do to try and cheer Sam up must be difficult. Judging from Gabriel's face he'd already tried and had probably gotten shit from Sam, or at least that was Dean's guess.

"I guess we'll see you later." Sam said as his class started moving on, "Try not to get too bored standing here."

"No promises." Dean grinned, "Later, Sammy."

Sam smiled at that and started pushing himself though Gabriel assisted with the outside terrain being a little more difficult than pavement and tiled floors. Dean sighed and looked out over the field again, Sam was doing very well, he was being strong and he'd make it through this. He had a few moments of depression but who wouldn't? His body had healed and his legs had shown signs of usage again though nothing significant enough to actually use. Still though, day by day the doctors said he was doing better and the prospect of him standing again was a much greater percentage.

Dean had to question how much he actually knew about it all, though. Sam kept a lot of his recovery stepping stones to himself and the only one who seemed to know anything was Gabriel. Dean thought about Sam sitting there across from him, his big eyes watching all the things he might never get to do again, fingers anxiously twisting and curling around fabric in an attempt to keep himself from saying anything about it. It must be hell, Dean thought as much and he'd never felt more respect for his little brother than in that moment.

That day went by pretty quickly and in the end it was Dean's class that was in the lead with points. But who could be surprised? They had Garth, Chuck, and more noteworthy, Jet. Jet had normally been the type to skip these school events but instead this time he gave it his all for all the students that wouldn't be there and the ones that couldn't do certain things, like Sam. He ploughed through those events activities like a beast and as everyone packed up the last of the games and made room for everyone to watch the talent show, Dean felt himself getting a little jittery over it. He was finally going to see Castiel perform. He was in the line up too and he insisted that he be last, over and over he insisted it, because he didn't want to stand back stage with the other performers waiting for his turn, he wanted to see Castiel.

And the event started, so many different talents, Garth with his magic tricks as fail-worthy as they were actually impressed him. Sam clapped happily, he'd always liked that kind of thing and Dean felt a smile grow on his lips. At least Sam was enjoying this, the little sparkle in his green eyes told Dean that much at least.

Chuck went on stage next and did his best with stand up comedy; his weird quirkiness was actually pretty incredible and very funny in a crowd. Dean found himself laughing at some of the jokes because really? What's not funny about a paranoid scuzz-ball?

A few dancers, and instrumental performances, and even a few singers though Dean didn't find he liked them much. He stood anxiously waiting until finally the lights dimmed and Castiel stepped forward, his clothing just a regular t-shirt and jeans like he'd worn to school that day. Dean was curious as to what kind of performance they'd get.

Cas grabbed the microphone, not very common for the other performers of his type because they were pretty nervous and wanted to get the heck out of there. "Hey guys," he smiled sweetly at them and got a few cheers and claps already. "I wanted to first address something I've noticed and I'm sure majority of you have as well. It sounds like a legitimately annoying high school thing to say but we really need to take a look at how we treat people. I was a victim of bullying, broken down and abused until I was left crying on a bathroom floor. I can't say I'm perfect but let's be honest here, who really likes bullies?"

The room was silent and he nodded. "I thought not. So at first I was going to pick a pop song, something catchy and fun to dance to. I changed my mind, so instead I'll be singing a track by the band Shinedown." He waved toward the soundtrack crew and suddenly the musical interlude blasted over the speakers and Castiel broke right into it, his voice catching everyone's attention.

Dean recognized the song before the first lyrics were heard; it was called Bully, by the band Shinedown, as Cas had said. He couldn't take his eyes away from the powerful form of his lover standing above them all with those piercing blue eyes.

" _It's 8 am. This hell I'm in. It seems I've crossed the line again for being nothing more than who I am. So break my bones, and throw your stones. We all know that life ain't fair but there are more of us, we're everywhere. We don't have to take this back against the wall, we don't have to take this, we can end it all."_  The room was silent as Castiel continued, his eyes scanning over all of them, stinging those who knew they'd done something, empowering the rest.  _"All you'll ever be is a fading memory of a bully! Make another joke while they hang another rope, so lonely. Push 'em to the dirt until the words don't hurt, can you hear me? And no one's gonna cry on the very day you die, you're a bully."_

Dean stood still as he watched the entire performance and swore he could see Castiel's soul held out for all of them to see it, the essence that Castiel embodied rose over them all and they remained in an awestruck state until it ended. The room was left in a baffled silence until Jet started to clap for him and cheer, Garth, Chuck and Dean following swiftly and soon the entire room was in an uproar.

Castiel stepped back after putting the microphone back and gave a low bow, Dean running up to the stage and climbing up before he could stand again. Dean grabbed the mic one more time and grinned, "Okay I'm technically the last person to perform and I know I should wait until Cas is off stage but come on, one more time guys that was beautiful."

The room cheered again, Dean turned and held Castiel's hand firmly. "You are amazing." He mouthed the words because there was no way Cas could hear him in this loud environment. Cas' cheeks were flushed red and he smiled deeply, proud of himself and overwhelmed by the amount of support he was getting. "Okay," Dean looked back at the school, "I don't really have a talent and I'm far from good at what I'm about to show you but I wanted you all to see it anyway."

The next few seconds could have been in slow motion for Cas and he never would have known. He watched as his boyfriend dropped to one knee in front of the entire school and took out a ring he'd had in his pocket for god knows how long. "Castiel Novak," Dean said into the microphone as the room started to nearly explode with cheering, "Will you marry me?"

Cas felt hot tears instantly on his cheeks and his breath caught in his throat, hands coming up to cover his mouth as he tried to blink the tears away. The room was so loud he could only nod his head quickly as he sobbed; Dean took his hand and put the ring on his finger, a perfect fit and Cas wondered briefly when Dean had gotten his ring size. The mic was held to his lips and Cas tried hard to answer out loud though he struggled, "Yes," he wrapped his arms around Dean's shoulders as the other teen stood up, "God, yes!" he squeezed and buried his face against Dean's shoulder.

They held one another closely, drowning out the sounds of the gymnasium around them as they leaned back and kissed. The most perfect moment of Castiel's life that he could think of so far.


	25. Chapter 25

"Work, bitch. You don't gotta stress this. Got 'em feeling restless. Show 'em how it's done. Alright." Cas broke into dance as he stood in his dressing room, the end of exams and start of summer meant one thing; a wedding.

He and Dean had run to their parents immediately and explained the situation. At first no one knew what to say (at least on the Novak's side), it seemed sudden to them all and to be honest it was pretty big news. Cas cheered and squealed and showed off the modest little ring that had been given to him. Jimmy smiled, finding charm in the older looking thing and nodded his approval.

"When did you want the wedding?"

"This summer." Cas blurted out immediately, "As soon as we can."

The Novak's could manage that, it seemed pretty damn easy to them.

The Winchesters crowded Dean as soon as he mentioned it, "How did it go?" John asked eagerly, to the surprised of pretty much everybody.

"I went up on stage for the talent show," Dean grinned and had Jet's hand clap on his shoulder for possibly the hundredth time that day. "Asked him right there."

"Nice." John nodded and Mary pretty acted like a school girl about the whole thing, going on and on about what she'd do for the wedding.

All of that had happened a few weeks ago, now Castiel danced in his dressing room, his eyes bright with ideas and thoughts of times to come. Balthazar smiled as he helped Garth adjust his tie, the three of them easy choices as Cas' best men. "You're pretty excited."

"Am I ever." Cas sighed happily and dropped himself into a chair, kicking his legs eagerly, not being able to help singing the things that repeatedly inspired him, be it doing house chores or just feeling down in general. "If you wanna be it, you've got to dream. If you've got the key then baby pop that lock. If you want to free it, you have got to scream-"

"We gotta get going," Chuck entered the room, pointing behind him, "Places, gentlemen."

Cas exhaled slowly and stood up, "Guess I have to be ready too." He looked at the white tuxedo he was wearing and tugged gently at the hemming of his coat with a smile.

* * *

"You going to be okay?" Gabriel asked, looking at Sam warily.

"I'll be fine. I did it once before, right?" Sam said sternly.

"Well... no, not quite. I was right there, remember?" Gabriel corrected him and Sam sighed heavily.

"I know but I can do it." Sam said firmly and started to wheel himself toward the main doors, "Come on it's about to start."

Gabriel smiled a little and followed. "Proud of you, Sam."

Sam blushed a little but nodded, "Thank you, Gabriel. For all of this."

"Don't worry about it; you know I wouldn't leave you hanging." Gabriel laughed and walked ahead of Sam to open the doors.

"I know." Sam smiled and rolled inside, greeting his parents as he approached them.

* * *

Dean stood at the front of the room as a jazzed up version of 'here comes the bride' started up over the sound system though it was soon ripped away and of course 'Pop that Lock' took its place, Castiel shoving the doors open and entering with a one hell of a sashay in his hips. Dean swallowed, very, very glad that he was hitting that because damn if he weren't he'd really want to. His fiancé, soon to be husband, strut his way to the front of the room getting grins from all of his friends and family because really, who didn't love that kid?

Castiel passed Sam by who was at the front of assembly of people; everyone knew he was one of Dean's best men but that position was up a step or two so he just sat with everyone else in a reserved spot. Cas touched Sam's shoulder as he walked by, pausing a moment to smile and take in the returned one. He made it to Dean's side and took his hand immediately, staring into one another's eyes intently.

"I never could have asked for a more amazing partner." Dean said after the music died down, not waiting for all of the official people to say whatever they usually said (no one listens to them really, do they?). "Castiel, you are the most wonderful guy I've ever met, unending patience and as forgiving as they come. You're kind, helpful, a great listener, and you put up with bullshit you don't have to for other people's sake. I love you, Cas. More than anything and I promise you, with everything that I am, that I will keep you safe and protect you."

Cas, though standing as tall as he ever has, couldn't stop the tears from welling in his eyes at hearing Dean's words, watching as the same watery beasts threatened Dean's own composure. "Dean, I have to say that you are one of a kind. I used to find you alluring and in the dorkiest, crushing way, I watched you. After a lot of hardship and after you and I didn't see eye to eye, I thought it was a lost cause, I had given up. I see now that was wrong of me. When I came back, you were different and the first person to try to get to know me. I misjudged you to be something you weren't and now I see the kind man you're turning into. You're humble, generous in ways I could never be, you are incredible, to see the good in things that no one else could possibly ever see. I love you, too, Dean. I swear I'll be loyal, faithful, and understanding. I'll be there, whether you need me or otherwise. I'm so proud to be your husband."

The instruction hadn't needed to be given; kissing Castiel was the most obvious following step in Dean's mind. The cheer erupted vehemently and Dean and Castiel stood and enjoyed it, waving and letting it go on but not leaving the room just yet.

"We just wanted to say thank you," Dean said after the gathering of family and friends had quieted. "We know some of you are probably still on the fence about these relationships and we appreciate it, that you have been so respectful to us."

"And to those of you who are stuck on how young we are, how fast this happened," Cas spoke next, his arm linked in Dean's, "We will do our utmost to prove our dedication to you. I'm not afraid of a challenge and I know he definitely isn't. So if you truly support us, and I mean would boast about our relationship to others who know nothing about it, I'd like to ask you to show it now."

Now there are certain things that should be noted that happened in the next few moments. The entire room had ended up cheering but only after Mary and John had burst into tears. Castiel and Dean ran from the ceremony's center into the crowd, but only after Garth's and Chuck's mouths had dropped open. Balthazar grinned from ear to ear but only after Jet uttered the words "Holy shit".

The room had been silent at first after Dean and Castiel had addressed them. The one set of hands clapped together, slowly, loudly. Dean looked down at Sam who stared from the front of the room, his brother's smile widening as he applauded them firmly. The fact that Sam was clapping wasn't why all of those previously mentioned things happened.

Sam smiled, his eyes warm and telling as he clapped faster and louder for them, his legs a little shaky though he stood firmly on them, taking a few slow steps away from his wheelchair.


End file.
